The Blair Walsh Project failed.
The Seattle Seahawks have taken a step to fix it for 2018.
The NFL’s official transactions for Wednesday showed Seattle signed former Jacksonville kicker Jason Myers to a futures contract. That means Myers will be on the 90-man offseason roster when workouts begin for the Seahawks in mid-April.
Seattle signed Walsh, a 2012 All-Pro for the Minnesota Vikings, to a one-year contract for $800,000 last spring. That was to get four years younger and $2.45 million cheaper than former kicker Steven Hauschka. Hauschka then signed with Buffalo.
In a case of getting (less than) what you pay for, Walsh made just 21 of 29 field goals for the Seahawks. He started the 2017 season 12 for 13, then went 9 for 16 to finish. He missed three field goals in a three-point home loss to Washington in November, another one in a six-point loss at Jacksonville in December, and his last try, in the final seconds of a 26-24 loss to Arizona in last weekend’s season finale.
Walsh’s contract has expired. He can — and almost certainly will — become a free agent again.
Seattle finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
Meanwhile, Hauschka made 29 of 33 field goals for the Bills. He will be kicking in the playoffs this weekend.
Walsh was 33rd in field-goal accuracy (73 percent) this past season in the 32-team NFL.
Who was 32nd? Myers.
The 26-year-old from Marist was the Jaguars’ kicker for all 16 games of the 2015 and ‘16 seasons and the first six games of this past season. Jacksonville released him after he missed four of his first 15 field-goal tries in 2017.
Myers was 27 for 34 in 2016 and 26 for 30 in his rookie season, when he made his career-long field goal of 58 yards.
Another reason Myers made the Jaguars nervous: he missed seven extra-point attempts his rookie season, three in 2016 and two this past season before they released him. For his career, Myers is 76 for 88 (86 percent) on points after touchdowns.
Since the NFL moved extra points back to a more challenging distance for the 2015 season, the annual league averages have been 94.2 percent, 93.6 percent and 94.1 percent.
The Seahawks also signed seven others to futures contracts: running back Jalston Fowler, tackle Isaiah Battle, guard Willie Beavers, 2016 backup quarterback and ‘17 practice-squad player Trevone Boykin, defensive back Alex Carter, 2017 undrafted rookie wide receiver Cyril Grayson and defensive end Noble Nwachukwu.
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