The Seattle Seahawks handled one of the first necessary orders of business in free agency, tendering contract offers to 10 of their exclusive rights free agents.
Long snapper Tyler Ott, center Joey Hunt, running back J.D. McKissic, defensive back Kalan Reed, receiver David Moore, linebacker Austin Calitro, guard Jordan Simmons, defensive back Shalom Luani, defensive end Branden Jackson and linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee are all back with the Seahawks – for now.
The 10 players Seattle signed are now on non-guaranteed contracts, meaning they could be cut at any time. However, they are not able to sign with other teams, so barring a trade or a release they will be in Seattle for the 2019 season.
The most notable of the 10 is David Moore, who hauled in 26 receptions for 445 yards and five touchdowns last season. He’ll once again compete to be Seattle’s No. 3 receiver in 2019.
Both J.D. McKissic and Jordan Simmons could have big roles on the offense as well, with McKissic slated to take over as the No. 3 running back and Simmons a potential candidate to start on the offensive line now that J.R. Sweezy is gone and with D.J. Fluker still a free agent.
Austin Calitro played key snaps at outside linebacker last season after injuries impacted both K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks. He could be in the mix for snaps on defense again next year.
These moves primarily provide Seattle with depth and help on the special teams, but they have succeeded at finding diamonds in the rough before and could easily have someone from this group step up into a big role next year.
The three exclusive rights free agents who were not tendered an offer and who are now free agents, are defensive backs T.J. Green and T.J. Mutcherson and defensive end Ricky Ali’ifua.
