The Seahawks announced Thursday that the team has terminated the contracts of two of the most iconic players of the Pete Carroll era _ safety Kam Chancellor and receiver Doug Baldwin.
The contracts were each terminated with the designation that they had failed a physical.
"The Seahawks have made the difficult decision to terminate/failed physical Doug Baldwin and Kam Chancellor," Seahawks general manager John Schneider said in a statement released by the team Thursday. "These are two of the most iconic players in franchise history and both were instrumental in establishing our championship culture, great examples of competitiveness and leadership on the field and in the community. These legendary players will always be a part of our Seahawks family."
The move was no surprise with Chancellor as he did not play last season and had essentially announced his retirement via social media last July 1, later revealing that he is suffering from spinal stenosis, an injury suffered in a game at Arizona on Nov. 9, 2017.
Baldwin, meanwhile, dealt with knee, shoulder and sports hernia injuries in 2018 and has had surgeries on each in the offseason.
The team had made it clear Baldwin was considering retiring, with coach Pete Carroll saying last Friday that "I was with him today in the training room. He's working out and working hard, trying to get himself right. It's a big challenge and you know, he's got a lot to overcome."
Baldwin had no more guaranteed money in his contract but by being cut will not have to pay back any of the $7 million in bonus money received in a four-year deal he signed in 2016. He will end up not playing the final two seasons of that contract, years in which he would have made $9.25 and $10.25 million.
Chancellor had injury guarantees paying him $5.2 million for 2019. But the Seahawks are now not on the hook for any more money with Chancellor, whose contract also went through the 2020 season.
The two moves come as Seattle continues to reconfigure its roster, and will open up some additional cap space to make more moves going forward.
The moves also mean there are just three players left on the roster from the team that won the Super Bowl following the 2013 season _ quarterback Russell Wilson and linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright.
