The Seattle Seahawks have trimmed their roster down to 53 players. On Sunday, the team waived seven players to meet the NFL‘s limit by the Tuesday deadline.
Seattle’s moves come as the preseason portion of the 2023 campaign concludes. The seven players the Seahawks waived include:
- Sal Cannella, TE
- Jordan Ferguson, DE
- Malik Flowers, WR
- Benjie Franklin, CB
- Justin Marshall, WR
- Chris Steele, CB
- Wayne Taulapapa, RB
Per Pro Football Talk, head coach Pete Carroll said the team plans to fill out the 16-man practice roster with players already on the team.
“As we get to this weekend, you think about it, OK, here comes the change in the roster and all of that,” Carroll said. “Sixty-nine of these players are going to be with us, and that is a bunch of guys in this locker room right here that are going to stay with us. There will be some changes. There are always some. But the bulk of these guys are going to be with us, and I love that because these guys are connected and they know how we play, what we expect, how we prepare, how we talk about our challenges and all of that. And that’s only going to make us better as we go through the start of the season coming up.”
The Seahawks finished the preseason with a 2-1 record, defeating the Vikings and Cowboys but falling to the Packers in the finale. Seattle opens the regular season on Sunday, Sept. 10 at home against the Rams.
Seahawks rookie WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba suffers injury
The bad luck continues for former Ohio State star and rookie wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Seattle first-round pick suffered a wrist injury that puts his Week 1 status in jeopardy.
Smith-Njigba’s injury comes after missing a majority of the 2022 season with the Buckeyes for an injury. So it has to be frustrating for the star receiver.
“Pete Carroll said [Smith-Njigba] had a slight fracture and they want to make sure to do things right. 3-4 week issue and they’re staying optimistic about his timetable,” Curtis Crabtree of Fox 13 Seattle reported.
The receiver recently underwent “elaborate surgery” to fix the wrist.
Although he missed most of the 2022 campaign due to injury, Smith-Njigba proved to be an impressive target in Ohio State’s offense during his time in Columbus. He really popped off the screen during his 2021 season.
Smith-Njigba ended that year as the Big Ten’s leading receiver, totaling 1,606 yards and nine touchdowns on 95 receptions. He averaged an impressive 16.9 yards per snag.
Seattle hopes that, when fully healthy, Smith-Njigba can provide that same spark in the passing attack.
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