Seattle Seahawks Terminate WR Contract Before Week 4

The Seattle Seahawks released wide receiver Julian Hicks from the practice squad on Wednesday, ending another brief chapter in one of the more unsettled roster sagas of the team’s 2026 season, the team announced.

Hicks, 27, was let go along with safety D’Anthony Bell as Seattle added linebacker Jimmy Ciarlo and wide receiver Malick Meiga to the practice squad.

The moves came days before a Week 4 home game against the Los Angeles Chargers and after Seattle’s 2-1 start. For Hicks, it was the third time the Seahawks had cut him since he first signed on Aug. 17.

The Albany product went undrafted in 2024, spent two years mostly on the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad, and entered last summer as a free agent.

Seattle signed him after its preseason opener, then waived him two days later to clear a 90-man roster spot for cornerback Trevon Diggs.

When Jake Bobo suffered a season-ending knee injury in a joint practice with Tennessee, Hicks was brought back on Aug. 22. He was waived again on final cutdown day Aug. 30, then re-signed to the practice squad Aug. 31.

That pattern is common for undrafted receivers fighting for depth work. Hicks is listed at 6-foot-2 and 201 pounds. In Seattle’s final two preseason games he caught his only target for 12 yards.

He did not appear in a regular-season game this year.

The Seahawks’ receiving room has been in flux. Bobo’s injury thinned an already crowded group, and practice-squad turnover has been constant as the club evaluates special-teams value and emergency depth.

Releasing Hicks to add Meiga is the latest example of that week-to-week calculus rather than a statement about Hicks’s talent.

Hicks remains eligible to sign with another team. For a player who has spent most of his NFL life on practice squads, the next opportunity will likely look similar: a short-term deal, a chance to learn an offense, and little guarantee he stays put.

Seattle, meanwhile, continues to treat the practice squad as a revolving door while it manages injuries elsewhere, including at safety.

The transaction is small in the scheme of a season. It is also a reminder of how thin the margin is for fringe roster players.

Hicks signed, left, returned, left, returned, and left again in six weeks. Wednesday’s release simply closed the latest loop.