The Seattle Seahawks will release another veteran cornerback on Monday, but they hope to bring this one back, according to an ESPN report.
Having already said goodbye to Richard Sherman and Jeremy Lane, the Seahawks will release DeShawn Shead to honor a promise.
Under NFL rules, Shead’s contract is set to toll — or roll over a year on the same terms — because he spent all but two games of the 2017 season on the PUP list while recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament. However, according to ESPN, the Seahawks had promised Shead — who spent 2017 on a restricted-free-agent tender of $1.2 million — he would become an unrestricted free agent after this season. To honor their word, they will release him with the hopes of bringing him back on a new contract.
Shead’s agent, Cameron Foster, explained the situation to ESPN.
“[Seahawks general manager] John Schneider called me saying they were going to release DeShawn on Monday because, per the league rule, it’s the NFL’s position that DeShawn’s contract is to toll,” Foster told ESPN. “But it’s our position, the NFL Players Association’s position and the Seattle Seahawks’ position that it does not toll. John had already informed DeShawn that his contract was expiring after this year, and the Seattle Seahawks are just living up to their word.
“They called me and they said, ‘Just giving you a heads up that we’re going to release DeShawn on Monday, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want him. That means we are living up to our word and we’re going to release him, otherwise his contract would be required to toll.’ So kudos to the Seahawks for doing the right thing. It’s them living up to their word, letting DeShawn test the free-agent world, but they have said they’d like to have him come back.”
Seattle will have competition for Shead’s services from the Detroit Lions, who already have a visit lined up with the cornerback, per ESPN.
Shead, 28, tore the ACL in his left knee in a divisional playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons on Jan. 14, 2017. He spent almost all of the 2017 season on the PUP list until being activated shortly before Christmas. In Weeks 16 and 17, he logged 45 snaps, all on special teams.
An undrafted free agent in 2012, Shead has been with Seattle ever since and earned a starting role in 2016 as the right cornerback opposite Sherman. Through six NFL seasons, he has two interceptions, 24 passes defensed and 154 tackles in 54 games (22 starts).
With Sherman and Lane released last week, the Seahawks have only one cornerback (2017 third-round pick Shaquil Griffin) currently locked in for a major role in 2018. Byron Maxwell and Justin Coleman will both hit unrestricted free agency on Wednesday.
–Field Level Media
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