The Seattle Seahawks had until Friday to pick up the fifth-year option on offensive tackle Germain Ifedi’s rookie contract but declined to do so.
Selected in the first round of the 2016 NFL draft, Ifedi was in line to earn $10.35 million in 2020 based on the pay scale for his position as determined under the collective bargaining agreement.
Coach Pete Carroll spoke about the team’s decision Friday afternoon following the first practice of rookie minicamp.
“Well, there’s there’s a lot of factors,” Carroll began. “You know, we’re in the midst of trying to continue to fit the roster together and all of that, and the big demands, sometimes we can jump on it, sometimes we can’t. We love Germain. He’s grown with us. He’s become a solid football player and done a great job, starting a ton of games for us and hanging in there and being tough about it, and we’d love to have him.
“This is not an indication of anything, but we like the guy and we hope he’ll be with us for a long time.”
Ifedi is set to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2019 season.
