Seattle Seahawks Terminate Contract of 23-Year-Old Defender

The Seattle Seahawks have terminated the contract of 23-year-old linebacker Power Echols, waiving him from injured reserve with an injury settlement, per Spotrac.com’s NFL transaction log.

The move ends a whirlwind month in which the former North Carolina standout was signed twice, cut twice, and never appeared in a regular-season NFL game.

Echols, born Jan. 20, 2003, in Charlotte, N.C., went undrafted in 2025 after a productive four-year career with the Tar Heels. He recorded 307 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, four interceptions and three forced fumbles across 52 games, starting 39 of them over his final three seasons.

He earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2023 and honorable mention recognition in 2022 and 2024. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 240 pounds, the compact linebacker spent his rookie year on the practice squads of the Chicago Bears and Houston Texans without seeing regular-season action.

Seattle first signed Echols on Aug. 7, waiving linebacker Joseph Vaughn to create a roster spot. The next day the team released Echols to sign running back Justin Jones.

Ten days later, after a 17-7 preseason loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Seahawks brought Echols back along with two other players. He responded with 12 tackles across two preseason games, including action against the Kansas City Chiefs.

When the defending Super Bowl champions trimmed their roster to 53 players on Aug. 30, Echols was among those waived with an injury designation.

After going unclaimed, he reverted to injured reserve. The Sept. 5 settlement allowed Seattle to release him rather than keep him on IR for the season. The specific injury was not publicly disclosed.

The transaction is typical of late-summer roster management. An injury settlement ends the club’s ongoing medical and salary obligations and subjects Echols to the waiver wire.

Because he has fewer than four accrued seasons, other teams can claim him; if he clears, he becomes a free agent eligible to sign elsewhere or join a practice squad once healthy.

For a Super Bowl champion with limited linebacker depth, the experiment with Echols was a low-risk look at a high-motor college producer. It did not last.

Echols now looks for his next opportunity after an unusually eventful first month in Seattle.

At 23, with a proven college résumé and recent preseason production, he remains a candidate for a practice-squad role somewhere in the league.