Seahawks’ Aldon Smith Wanted For Battery
Just a few days after the Seahawks signed pass rusher Aldon Smith, there are already complications. Smith is wanted in New Orleans on a charge of second-degree battery, Travers Mackel of WDSU tweets.
The bulletin from the sheriff’s office says Smith is wanted for an alleged battery that happened on April 17 outside the French Press Coffee House. An acquaintance of Smith’s accused the 31-year-old defender of assault, according to a police report (via NOLA.com’s Amie Just, on Twitter). A warrant went out for Smith’s arrest.
It’s an unfortunate development who just finally got back on the field last season after many years of off-field issues. The seventh overall pick of the 2011 draft by the 49ers, Smith became an instant star and racked up 19.5 sacks while picking up a first-team All-Pro nod in 2012.
Things unraveled pretty quickly after that, as Smith was hit with a series of suspensions for various substance abuse and legal issues. After not having played in a game since the 2015 season, he improbably managed to return to the NFL with the Cowboys last year.
He had five sacks and a fumble recovery touchdown in 16 games with Dallas. The Seahawks had been interested for a while, as they tried to trade for him at the trade deadline. It’s unclear if their interest is strong enough for them to put up with this latest incident. It wouldn’t be surprising if Seattle elects to cut ties and not deal with the headache. Smith will turn 32 in September.
Russell Wilson Helped Seahawks Recruit Chris Carson Back
- There was a lot of drama surrounding Russell Wilson this offseason, which led to trade rumors, but it sounds like he’s been very engaged in the Seahawks’ offseason plans. Running back Chris Carson signed a two-year deal to stay in Seattle despite interest from a number of other teams, and he recently revealed that Wilson played a big role in recruiting him. “He was definitely in my ear,” Carson said, via John Boyle of the team’s official site. “We talked about it before the season ended that we didn’t want this to be the last year we played with each other. He definitely was in my ear during the offseason.” He also said fellow running back Rashaad Penny played a big role in recruiting him back. Wilson’s efforts here, as well as his recent reassurances to Carlos Dunlap, seem to indicate he isn’t planning on leaving the Seahawks anytime soon.
Seahawks Had Interest In WR Marquise Goodwin
Before he ended up joining the Bears, wideout Marquise Goodwin received some interest from one of his former team’s top rivals. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports (via Twitter) that the Seahawks were interested in adding the veteran receiver.
Following a four-year stint with the Bills to start his career, Goodwin put his name on the map once he joined the 49ers. He had a breakout season in 2017, hauling in 56 receptions for 962 yards and two touchdowns. The receiver’s production dropped off in 2018 and 2019, and after getting traded to the Eagles last offseason, Goodwin opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID concerns.
The Seahawks are plenty familiar with the 30-year-old; Goodwin has played in five career games against the Niners’ division rival, hauling in 12 catches for 154 yards. Had Goodwin joined Seattle, he would have had to battle for reps behind starters D.K. Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, although Fowler notes that the Seahawks are content rolling with Freddie Swain as that “complementary piece.” The 2020 sixth-rounder hauled in a pair of touchdowns during his rookie campaign.
Instead of joining Seattle, Goodwin ultimately joined the Bears. We learned yesterday that the veteran inked a one-year deal with Chicago.
Jets, Patriots, Panthers Showed Interest In RB Chris Carson
Before he re-signed with the Seahawks, running back Chris Carson had interest from a number of teams. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times writes that the Jets, Patriots, and Panthers were among the teams that reached out to the veteran. We previously heard that the Dolphins tried to sign the running back.
After spending the first four seasons of his career with Seattle, Carson ultimately decided to stick around with the organization. However, the veteran admitted that he had some enticing offers from those rival suitors.
“[The decision] was definitely difficult,” Carson told Condotta. “Teams made offers. Some teams made it tough to decide to sign with the Seahawks.”
Besides his familiarity with the team, Carson was also swayed by the money and the security. His two-year deal includes $5.5MM in guaranteed money and could be worth up to $10.4MM.
Despite having a pair of 1,000-plus-yard seasons on his resume, he’s expected to compete with former first-rounder Rashaad Penny for snaps next season. However, Carson isn’t concerned about the unclear roles; rather, he believes himself and Penny could emerge as one of the top two-headed monsters in the league.
“I think we can be one of the top rushing duos in the league,’’ Carson said. “We both bring a different feel to the game, like different attributes. But we complement each other so well. I feel like his limit is ridiculous once he starts getting his feet wet in the game. I think it’s going to be something special.’’
While the Panthers were probably looking for Carson to relieve Christian McCaffrey, the Patriots and Jets could have offered the veteran a larger role. The Patriots depth chart is led by Sony Michel and Damien Harris, a pair of intriguing young players who have yet to secure the definitive starting spot. The Jets depth chart is a mix of unproven young players and Tevin Coleman, although they’ll probably add to the position via the draft.
Seahawks To Sign Aldon Smith
The Seahawks have agreed to a one-year deal with Aldon Smith (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo and Ian Rapoport). The deal came together pretty quickly, following the edge rusher’s Wednesday visit.
[RELATED: Lockett Wants To Finish Career With Seahawks]
Smith’s multitude of suspensions and off-the-field incidents kept him out of the league for years. He was pretty much off of everyone’s radar, up until last year when the Cowboys signed him to a low-cost one-year deal. Smith managed to shake off the rust, tallying five sacks, two fumble recoveries, and 14 quarterback hits on 73% of Dallas’ defensive snaps.
All of Smith’s sacks came in the first half of the season. Around that time, the Seahawks took notice and tried to pry the veteran away from the Cowboys just before the deadline. Even though they were rebuffed, they managed to get their man a few months later.
After recording 46 sacks last year to finish seventh in the league, the Seahawks have done their best to keep the band together. Carlos Dunlap — the Seahawks’ Plan B when the Smith talks fell through — was re-signed to a two-year deal in late March. Smith will be joined up front by Benson Mayowa, who has a fresh one-year contract, and fellow newcomer Kerry Hyder, who joined on a three-year, $16.5MM accord.
Tyler Lockett Wants To Finish Career With Seahawks
Seahawks wide receiver Tyler Lockett just signed a lucrative contract extension that will take him through the 2025 season, but he already knows how he would like his playing career to end. The 28-year-old wideout told reporters during a meeting with media yesterday that he wants to finish his career with the ‘Hawks (via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times).
“I would love to finish my career as a Seattle Seahawk,” Lockett said. “That’s why I said it was an amazing feeling that they even wanted to keep me on the team even longer. … To just to be able to see how they feel about me, understand how they feel about me, it brings that type of feeling to me that, you know, they want me here just as much as I want to be here.”
The latest extension represents Lockett’s third contract with the team, and as Condotta points out, he is now the only player on Seattle’s roster signed past the 2023 season. He would have been eligible for free agency at the end of the 2021 campaign, but the new deal gave him $37MM in fully-guaranteed cash while lowering his cap hit for this year, so it was a beneficial transaction for both player and team.
Lockett’s warm and fuzzy feelings towards Seattle are perhaps not shared by his quarterback at the moment, and it could be that Lockett’s tenure in the Emerald City will outlast Russell Wilson‘s. But Wilson will be throwing passes to Lockett for at least one more year, and both players will operate within new OC Shane Waldron‘s scheme.
Lockett, who has operated more out of the slot in the past several seasons, hopes to get a little more burn outside the numbers in Waldron’s offense. But wherever he lines up, he is excited about what the future holds after seeing Waldron’s work with the Rams’ passing game in recent years.
“I mean even when we watched the Rams and how they did a lot of things, they did a lot of great things,” Lockett said. “They utilize people in a lot of great ways. And just with the opportunity to be able to have Shane come in, I think there’s a lot of things that we can learn. There’s a lot of things he brings to the table…”
Seahawks Host Aldon Smith
Cowboys free agent pass rusher Aldon Smith will visit the Seahawks today, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo (on Twitter). 
Smith, once one of the best pass-rushers in the league, hadn’t played since the 2015 season before improbably returning to the field last year with the Cowboys. He played pretty well, considering the rust, racking up 48 tackles, five sacks, and a pair of fumble recoveries. In the midst of his comeback season, the Seahawks tried to work out a trade with the Cowboys. When they declined, the Seahawks pivoted to accomplished Bengals sack artist Carlos Dunlap.
The Seahawks have made a habit of collecting highly-drafted players in the later stages of their careers. Smith — the seventh overall pick in 2011 — would fit the mold. He achieved star status early in the NFL, making first-team All-Pro in 2012 with 19.5 sacks. Unfortunately, off-the-field issues quickly derailed his career and caused him to miss games in every season to follow.
The 31-year-old (32 in September) profiles as a potential low-risk, high-reward pickup for the Seahawks. If signed, he’ll join Dunlap and newcomer Kerry Hyder in the front seven.
K.J. Wright-Seahawks Reunion Unlikely?
- K.J. Wright expressed interest in returning to the Seahawks but is not keen on taking a discount to re-sign. However, the veteran linebacker may have no choice. Wright may need to accept a deal that slashes his previous pay in half, John Clayton of 710 AM Seattle writes, adding that he is not getting “good vibes” another Wright-Seahawks accord may come to pass. Wright averaged $7MM in salary on his third Seahawks contract, which he signed in 2019. He was interested in joining ex-Seattle DC Dan Quinn in Dallas; nothing has emerged to indicate the Cowboys are pursuing Wright. The Seahawks moving on would make sense. They used a 2020 first-round pick on Jordyn Brooks and have Bobby Wagner signed to the top off-ball linebacker contract. Wright, 31, has played all 10 of his NFL seasons with Seattle.
Broncos, Seahawks, Bucs To Skip Onsite Offseason Workouts
6:33pm: Add the Buccaneers to this list. The defending Super Bowl champions will follow the Broncos and Seahawks, with players voting to skip onsite workouts (Twitter link). They will move forward virtually.
6:01pm: Absent an agreement between the NFL and NFLPA on how this offseason will be structured, teams can begin holding voluntary workouts April 19. As of Tuesday, at least two teams are not on track to do so.
Broncos and Seahawks players voted to skip the voluntary portion of this offseason’s workouts — which covers everything except the yet-to-be-scheduled June minicamp — due to COVID-19 concerns.
“With offseason programs starting in less than a week and without adequate protocols in place in order for us players to return safely, we will be exercising our right to not participate in voluntary offseason workouts,” Broncos players said in a statement (Twitter link); Seahawks players’ statement can be read here (Twitter link). “COVID-19 remains a serious threat to our families and to our communities, and it makes no sense for us as players to put ourselves at risk during this dead period.”
[RELATED: NFL Mandates COVID-19 Vaccine For Team Employees]
This comes shortly after NFLPA president J.C. Tretter urged players to boycott OTAs. Broncos union rep Brandon McManus notified Vic Fangio of this decision to begin the offseason virtually Tuesday morning, Troy Renck of Denver7 notes. Thus far, 22 Broncos players have worked out at the team facility this offseason, per several reports, though McManus added most of the players that have done so are rehabbing injuries. Broncos players have not received an outlined plan regarding protocols for an onsite offseason program, according to McManus. Testing is an issue for many players, per ESPN.com’s Jeff Legwold, with workouts going Monday through Thursday and players receiving the other three days off.
The league and the union have spent several weeks negotiating offseason parameters, as the sides did last year, but no deal has been reached. Suspicion exists in NFLPA ranks that the NFL is running out the clock until April 19 to create a scenario where teams can begin holding workouts with no agreement in place, Albert Breer of SI.com notes. Last year, the NFL conducted an entirely virtual offseason. Some onsite work is expected this year, but barring an agreement between the league and the union, the Broncos, Seahawks and perhaps other teams may hold fully virtual offseasons again.
It will be interesting to see how other teams proceed. (Raiders players will discuss how they plan to navigate this issue Wednesday, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Vincent Bonsignore.) Hundreds of players have workout bonuses at stake, and the prospect of certain teams conducting onsite workouts while others meet virtually would create a historically unusual dynamic that could create a potential advantage for certain squads.
49ers, Seahawks Pursued Giovani Bernard
A free agent for the first time, Giovani Bernard agreed to join the defending Super Bowl champions. But prior to his Buccaneers agreement, the veteran passing-down back received interest from other NFC teams.
The 49ers and Seahawks also attempted to sign the eight-year vet, Jenna Laine of ESPN.com tweets. Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson contacted Bernard, per Laine, though Bruce Arians and Tom Brady did as well.
Seattle re-signed Chris Carson and still has former first-round pick Rashaad Penny on its payroll. But the former is not known for his receiving chops, and the latter missed most of last season due to injury. The Seahawks have not incorporated their backs into the receiving game extensively during Wilson’s career. No Seattle back has eclipsed 300 receiving yards since Marshawn Lynch in 2014.
Bernard could have provided an intriguing weapon for the team. Wilson’s effort in attempting to recruit the veteran should also serve as a good sign for his Seattle status, which became uncertain for the first time this offseason.
San Francisco’s cap sheet no longer includes Tevin Coleman and Jerick McKinnon‘s veteran salaries, but the 49ers do still employ key cogs Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson. Kyle Shanahan, however, valued McKinnon’s passing-game ability when he authorized a then-top-five running back accord in 2017. The 49ers, who saw injuries wreck McKinnon’s chances of living up to that contract, appear to be on the lookout for a receiving back capable of complementing Mostert and Wilson.