Seahawks allow CB Shead, LB Coyle to become free agents

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Seattle Seahawks cornerback DeShawn Shead is beginning his long recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament and torn meniscus in his left knee. He is a restricted free agent and the Seahawks have until 1 p.m. Thursday to give him a tender offer.

Apparently, that’s not going to happen.

ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia, citing a league source, reported Tuesday that Seattle will not tender Shead, thereby making him an unrestricted free agent. The team also reportedly will not tender veteran linebacker Brock Coyle.

Usually, a team not tendering a restricted free agent signals that player’s exit.

But Shead’s situation is unique.

When asked last week at the NFL combine in Indianapolis how tricky Shead’s situation is to the tender-offer decision, Seahawks general manager John Schneider didn’t want to answer.

“Ummm…,” Schneider said, before concluding: “The guy’s just had really bad luck.”

Shead’s injury occurred Jan. 14 in the second half of Seattle’s loss at Atlanta in the divisional playoffs. He underwent surgery two weeks later.

With the injury, his marketability in free agency is about as low as it can get. He is 28 years old and less than two months removed from knee reconstruction. Schneider said last week that Shead isn’t likely to be ready to play again until deep into the 2017 season, if then.

Because of that, there is a decent chance Shead re-signs with Seattle — even if it is for not much more than his veteran minimum of $775,000. Few teams, if any, are likely to offer Shead more than that while not knowing when he’ll be able to play.

So instead of using the lowest, original-round tender offer of $1,797,000 — which would would provide the Seahawks the right of first refusal if Shead receives any offers when the NFL’s free-agent market opens Thursday — Seattle may be playing the free-agent market odds. Those odds seem to be in favor of the Seahawks keeping Shead, and at a fraction of what the tender cost would be to retain him.

The Seahawks are the only NFL team Shead has known. He knows their defensive system, in multiple positions, and they know him. That’s especially true of defensive coordinator Kris Richard, his former position coach. Shead can continue his recovery and knee rehabilitation with the trainers and doctors who started it, in the training room that lately has been his second home.

Both coach Pete Carroll and Schneider have said they want to retain Shead. He has gone from an undrafted former decathlete from Portland State just trying to make the Seahawks as a special-teams player in 2012 to a free safety and strong safety to first-time, full-time starter opposite Richard Sherman last season.

“DeShawn is a great kid. He’s got really strong faith. You’d want him to be your son, you know what I mean?” Schneider said last week in Indianapolis. “His mindset is like, ‘Hey, I’m going.’

“I say he’s probably not going to be there right away; that’s just me. He’s probably got a different mindset. He’s crushing his rehab right now.”

The Seahawks signed 30-year-old cornerback Perrish Cox early this offseason to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract for minimal money as insurance behind Shead’s injury.

But Seattle isn’t done adding cornerbacks.

Schneider said last week that Shead’s situation makes cornerback more of a priority in free agency, which begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, and in the April draft that is loaded with cornerbacks — including two from the Seahawks’ backyard, Washington Huskies Sidney Jones and Kevin King.

Injury updates

Three-time All-Pro safety Earl Thomas posted a video on Instagram Monday that is the most positive sign yet he’ll be back for the start of the Seahawks’ 2017 season.

His short film showed him running on an anti-gravity treadmill, three months plus three days after he broke his tibia trying to intercept a pass against Carolina.

“First day back running,” Thomas wrote under the post.

That backs up Carroll’s optimism. When the coach spoke last week at the NFL combine, he said “all indications” are Thomas will recover from the broken shin to be Seattle’s starting free safety in the 2017 opener in September. Before that, Carroll had not given an estimate for Thomas’ recovery.

“Yeah, it was a big shock, you know. It was a big shock to him. He’d never been injured before, like that,” Carroll said. “He’s feeling very competitive about it and he’s going for it. His mentality is strong. And he’s looking forward to getting right.”

The coach had the same upbeat forecast last week for Tyler Lockett. The speedy wide receiver and Pro Bowl kick returner broke his tibia and fibula against Arizona on Christmas Eve.

“Both those guys have a really good chance to be there as we kick off the season,” Carroll said.