HEADLINES

DeShawn Shead

Seahawks Sign DeShawn Shead

July 27th, 2019 at 5:11pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

DeShawn Shead is coming home. The defensive back is returning to the place he made a name for himself and signing with the Seahawks, his agency announced on Twitter. 

It’s a one-year deal for the veteran’s minimum, tweets Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. In a separate tweet, Condotta notes that Shead visited with the team on Friday and had a workout earlier today, and that the plan is to play him at safety. Shead originally entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Portland State in 2012, and he turned into quite the diamond in the rough for Seattle.

After playing sparingly his first couple of years in the league, Shead became a big part of the defense at cornerback. Between 2015 and 2016 he started 21 games, racking up 129 tackles, two interceptions, and 22 passes defended. He was a full-time starter in 2016, but suffered a torn ACL in the playoffs.

That injury limited him to just two games in 2017, and he ended up signing a one-year, $3.5MM deal with the Lions last offseason. Snead was cut by Detroit right before the start of the season, but then re-signed a couple weeks later. He ended up appearing in 12 games, making one start. He had a quiet market this offseason, as the first we heard of him was when he worked out for the Saints a few days ago. Shead will have the chance to carve out a role as a safety, and if nothing else he’ll be a nice nostalgia piece for the fans, as he’ll be one of the only players still on the team from Seattle’s legendary ‘Legion of Boom’ defense.

Saints To Work Out DeShawn Shead

July 23rd, 2019 at 12:30pm CST by Zachary Links

Veteran defensive back DeShawn Shead will work out for the Saints on Tuesday, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). This marks Shead’s first known workout of the offseason.

Shead spent the first six seasons of his career with the Seahawks, making 22 starts across 54 appearances. Unfortunately, a knee injury suffered in the 2016 playoffs altered the trajectory of his career. After appearing in just two games for Seattle in ’17, Shead hooked on with the Lions in March of last year. After missing the final cut, he was re-signed to a lower cost deal and appeared in 12 games before landing on IR once again.

The 30-year-old, who once played opposite of Richard Sherman, could serve as a valued backup behind Eli Apple and Marshon Lattimore.

Minor NFL Transactions: 12/29/18

December 29th, 2018 at 4:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Saturday’s minor moves:

Detroit Lions

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Redskins

Extra Points: Mahomes, Chiefs, Chargers, Bosa, Lions, Snead, NFL Draft

September 23rd, 2018 at 6:19pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

Patrick Mahomes is the talk of the NFL. He’s led the Chiefs to a 3-0 record and has been nearly flawless, tossing 13 touchdowns and zero interceptions. Now, more details are coming out about how Mahomes landed in Kansas City, and Terez Paylor of Yahoo Sports has an insightful piece about the Chiefs’ process.

 Chiefs GM Brett Veach, at the time the team’s assistant GM, reportedly became infatuated with Mahomes in the months leading up to the draft. As a scout with the Eagles, he had banged the table for Andy Reid to draft Fletcher Cox, DeSean Jackon, and LeSean McCoy, so Reid trusted his judgment. Veach hounded Reid for months about his love for Mahomes and eventually won the coach over. The whole story is well worth a read and is full of interesting nuggets. It sounds like the Chiefs have the right leadership in place to be a force in the league for years to come.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Chargers star pass-rusher Joey Bosa will get the cast taken off his foot later today according to Adam Schefter of ESPN (Twitter link). While it’s a positive development for Los Angeles, Schefter cautions he still isn’t expected back until “sometime next month.”
  • Earlier this week the Lions re-signed veteran cornerback DeShawn Snead, and now the details are in. The contract is for just the veteran’s minimum, but will cost the Lions $2.3MM this season due to the dead money that came from cutting him the first time according to Chris Burke of The Athletic (Twitter link).
  • Virginia Tech has dismissed defensive lineman Trevon Hill from the team, an item of note for NFL draftniks. It’s “major draft news” according to Tony Pauline of DraftAnalyst.com (Twitter link), who writes that Hill was “one of the better edge rushing prospects in the nation.”

Lions Re-Sign DeShawn Shead

September 19th, 2018 at 11:48am CST by Zachary Links

The Lions have re-signed cornerback DeShawn Shead, according to a team announcement. Shead will help fill in the gap while Darius Slay recovers from a concussion. 

Shead was a full-time starter for the 2016 Seahawks, but a knee injury suffered against the Falcons in the playoffs that year has altered the trajectory of his career. This year, he missed the Lions’ final cut, despite being their only notable addition at cornerback.

Shead’s initial deal with Detroit had a base value of $3.5MM with the potential to earn up to $6.5MM through playtime incentives. This time around, his deal likely comes with a lower financial ceiling.

Lions Announce Roster Cuts

September 1st, 2018 at 4:54pm CST by Dallas Robinson

In addition to trading offensive tackle Corey Robinson to the Panthers, the Lions have also reduced their roster to 53 players.

Released:

Waived:

Placed on injured reserve:

Placed on PUP:

Waived from injured reserve:

With Rudock out of the picture, Matt Cassel will serve as the backup to quarterback Matthew Stafford. Freeny conceivably could have made the roster based on his familiarity with head coach Matt Patricia, but the Lions went in another direction.

Lions To Jettison DeShawn Shead

September 1st, 2018 at 12:58pm CST by Sam Robinson

DeShawn Shead will not make the Lions’ 53-man roster after signing with Detroit this offseason, with Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reporting (on Twitter) the former Seahawks cornerback will return to free agency.

Although Shead has sufficient service time to avoid waivers, his career continues to be affected by the unfortunate setback he suffered in the Seahawks’ most recent playoff game.

Shead’s knee injury against the Falcons in January 2017 limited him to two games last season. Now, the 29-year-old defender will have to find another employer to try and rehabilitate his career.

A former UDFA, Shead was a full-time starter for the 2016 Seahawks and was a key backup for previous Seattle teams. The Lions addressed their safety spot this offseason, but other than Shead, did not make notable additions to their corner corps.

Extra Points: Butler, Shead, Rams, Chiefs

March 14th, 2018 at 10:39pm CST by Micah Powell

It’s been a wild ride for the Seahawks defense the past week. After the team traded Michael Bennett to the Eagles and released Richard Sherman, it also decided to release cornerback DeShawn Shead.

This was noteworthy because the Seahawks told the player it would release him to allow him to become an unrestricted free agent despite the NFL saying his contract should toll for 2018.

Earlier today, Shead signed with the Lions but reportedly wanted a return to the Seahawks, the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta tweets. After Seattle honored its statement to make the cornerback a free agent, Shead wanted to give Seattle every chance to keep him, but the organization ultimately wouldn’t match the offer he received from the Lions.

Seattle now enters free agency without three of its top veterans and could be seeing the end of the Earl Thomas era, who has threatened to hold out if he doesn’t receive a new deal. The Seahawks could deal him this offseason and are reportedly looking for a first-round pick in return.

Needless to say, the Seahawks once-stingy defensive unit will look plenty different in 2018.

Here’s more from around the league:

  • Rams general manager Les Snead said on Wednesday the team traded linebacker Alec Ogletree to accommodate the ensuing move for cornerback Aqib Talib, Alden Gonzalez tweets. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips prefers cornerbacks to linebackers in his scheme, and a big move had to be made to bring in the former Broncos corner, who will count $11 MM toward the cap.
  • Snead also said he sees ways the Rams can address run defense and the pass rush in free agency, Gonzalez tweets. Though he is weighing what will be available to fill those holes with rookies, he doesn’t want to just wait until the draft to fill obvious needs. The team received some insurance for its pass rush on Wednesday when it re-signed veteran linebacker Connor Barwin.
  • New Titans cornerback Malcolm Butler said he was worried his Super Bowl benching would hurt his value on the open market, USA Today’s Lindsay Jones tweets. Butler notoriously didn’t see the field against the Eagles in February when the Patriots allowed Nick Foles to shred their secondary. The 2015 Pro Bowl selection reached a deal with the Titans on Wednesday worth up to $61 MM over five years, with $30 MM of that being guaranteed.
  • Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said cornerback Marcus Peters‘ trade to the Rams had nothing to do with national anthem protests, Pro Football Talk passes along. “This was a football decision. … This wasn’t just one game, wasn’t a month, this was three years of body of work, and we look for consistency. We felt that this was in the best interest of the team,” Veach said. 
  • Veach also touched on the Chiefs move for Sammy Watkins, saying the team pounced on the receiver in the first minute of free agency, the NFL Network’s James Palmer tweets. Veach said that if Watkins received a call before theirs, the other team would’ve had to call in 30 seconds before they did. The team was motivated to move on Watkins to add him to Tyreek Hill, giving strong-armed quarterback Patrick Mahomes a pair of dynamic, stretch-the-field receivers.

Lions To Sign CB DeShawn Shead

March 14th, 2018 at 5:45pm CST by Zachary Links

Former Seahawks cornerback DeShawn Shead has signed with the Lions, per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). He received a one-year deal worth $3.5MM. The deal be worth as much as $6.5MM with playtime incentives.

It’s a solid deal for Shead, who played in just two games last season after returning from a broken leg. The deal also has considerable upside for Detroit – Shead was Seattle’s full-time cornerback opposite Richard Sherman in 2016 and could prove be a starting caliber player at a bargain.

As shown on Roster Resource, the Lions project to start Darius Slay at one cornerback spot, but Shead could bump Quandre Diggs for the other top job. After re-signing on a two-year deal worth more than $9MM, Nevin Lawson will return in support.

The 49ers were among the teams with interest in Shead.

DeShawn Shead To Visit Lions, 49ers

March 13th, 2018 at 1:53pm CST by Zachary Links

Former Seahawks cornerback DeShawn Shead is visiting the Lions on Tuesday, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). If he leaves without an agreement, he’ll meet with the 49ers on Wednesday. 

Shead’s contract tolled for the 2018 season, but the Seahawks honored a promise to make him an unrestricted free agent in that event. Seattle hopes to retain Shead, but they may not get the opportunity to re-sign him given the outside interest he has and their own numbers crunch.

Shead returned from a broken leg to play in two games last season for the Seahawks, The cornerback, 30 in June, was Seattle’s full-time right cornerback opposite Richard Sherman in 2016. With Sherman and Jeremy Lane already out of the picture, it sounds like Shead could be the next Legion of Boomer to wind up elsewhere.

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