The Seattle Seahawks got a jump on the Aug. 27 deadline for roster reductions by waiving 12 players on Aug. 26. Most notably, WR Terrell Owens, OG Deuce Lutui, and OT Alex Barron were among the early roster casualties.
The Seahawks roster now stands at 77 players. The team must get down to 75 active players by 4 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. Seattle time. NFL teams must then be down to 53 active players by Aug. 31.
The release of Owens is welcome news, as I never liked the signing to begin with, and his preseason was plagued by dropped passes.
Lutui's release comes as something of a surprise. The big guy spent six seasons with the Arizona Cardinals before losing his starting job last year and leaving the team as a free agent. Constantly battling weight issues, he had slimmed down to 338 pounds in June after frequently showing up for Cardinals camps at between 380 and 400 pounds. Lutui seemed like nice depth at the offensive line heading into the preseason.
Despite his history with Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll during both of their tenures at USC, though, Lutui couldn't survive the first round of roster cuts.
Barron played five seasons for the St. Louis Rams before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2010. He was a first-round draft pick for the Rams out of Florida State. Barron signed with the New Orleans Saints last season but was placed on injured reserve with a knee injury. The Seahawks signed him as a free agent in May.
Tight end Cameron Morrah, who has spent his entire three-year career in Seattle, was also waived with an injury designation. He was a seventh-round draft pick for the Seahawks in 2009.
Joining Morrah on the waived/injured list is LB Jameson Konz, DE Pep Livingston, and CB Roy Lewis.
Also released were WR Phil Bates, OT Edawn Coughman, CBs Donny Lisowski and Ron Parker, and RB Tyrell Sutton.
Seattle hosts the Oakland Raiders on Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. ET in their final preseason action before the final 53-man rosters must be submitted to the NFL front office.
The author grew up in Washington State and is a lifelong fan of the Seahawks. He's also a Featured Contributor in Sports with the Yahoo! Contributor Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @RedZoneWriting and on Facebook.
