The Seattle Seahawks have made their roster cuts to get from 91 players to 53. They’ll keep working on their “70-man roster” by forming their practice squad on Monday, then tinker with the roster some more before Week 1 of the regular season kicks off against the New England Patriots.
Best story: Montorie Foster Jr makes the team
Perhaps there’s a reason why “Hard Knocks” sought to spotlight Foster from the second episode onward. Foster had an impressive training camp, a somewhat up-and-down preseason but with a few splash plays on offense and some down-and-dirty work on special teams, and he’s been rewarded with a spot on the 53. Not bad for someone who just got his real estate license and spent time as a substitute teacher in Ohio.
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For now, Foster is Seattle’s fifth wide receiver, and while he may not have the blocking chops of Jake Bobo, he can replace his special teams value and maybe provide a little bit more of a route tree in his limited snaps on offense.
Foster is one of those players you root for to succeed, and it helps when his parents have both been a wonderful follow. Their son is now more than just a Seahawks training camp body.
Seahawks keep their young offensive linemen
With the caveat that Mason Richman’s ACL tear probably shuffled the numbers a tad, Seattle opted to keep both Bryce Cabeldue and Christian Haynes as backup guards. Haynes looked to be in jeopardy of leaving the Seahawks when Beau Stephens was drafted, but instead he enters 2026 off the best camp and preseason of his career. Cabeldue assumed a few snaps at center, just as he (and Haynes) did last year.
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What Seattle lacks in tackle depth it makes up for in guard depth. Cabeldue was a tackle in college, so he could go out there if needed.
Don’t always fall for the “final preseason game” hype
We’re firmly entrenched in an era where the final roster cuts are all done in one shot instead of the gradual 90-80-75-53 processes of yesteryear. Starters rarely played in preseason finales over a decade ago and they scarcely get a series today. That means we get a whole lot of dudes who won’t be on the 53-man roster playing out the string in the last preseason game.
If you liked the performances of Jared Ivey, Jalen Gaines, Aidan Hubbard, and Andre Fuller against the Kansas City Chiefs, that’s cool. Preseason games are only one marker of many that determine a player’s fate on the team, and only three of the 23 Seahawks defensive players who played more than one series survived roster cuts.
I’m not sure Patrick O’Connell would’ve played on Friday night if he didn’t already sit out the Tennessee Titans game the week prior.
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If there are preseason names who’ve caught your eye by what they did with extended snaps in the last exhibition, you’re essentially watching practice squad football.
Seattle’s offense had a few more who made the roster from this game, but when Emmanuel Henderson has a strong showing and is second in wide receiver snaps played (30) when he had 19 total over the previous two games (and ONE in the first half), you have to take the hint.
The Seahawks secondary depth remains far from settled
We know that Josh Jobe, Devon Witherspoon, Ty Okada, and Julian Love are the starting secondary players for Seattle. Nehemiah Pritchett might be the Day 1 CB3/nickel corner. Nick Emmanwori will obviously factor in whenever he’s ready to play, and he’s damn near closer to a linebacker in disguise than a traditional safety.
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Every other spot is up for grabs. Trevon Diggs will start on the practice squad in all likelihood, possibly the same for Noah Igbinoghene (although that’s TBD), and they traded for rookie corner Avery Smith. The Julian Neal injury has obviously cost him some valuable practice and game reps time, so he’s essentially behind the curve in year one.
At the safety position, by waiving A.J. Finley and Maxen Hook, as well as cutting D’Anthony Bell and Rodney Thomas II, the Seahawks have three safeties (Okada, Love, and Emmanwori) on the roster. That ain’t gonna hold up over the course of the season. There will be more moves made here, but the Bud Clark injury definitely changed the picture here. Bell and Thomas seem like safe bets for the practice squad and some elevations, but over the course of the season they probably need an extra safety at some point.
This is currently a 4-player Seahawks 2026 draft class (and that’s fine)
None of Emmanuel Henderson Jr, Deven Eastern, Michael Dansby, or Andre Fuller made the initial 53. I would expect at least a couple of those players to make the practice squad, but this is also not a surprise. This was considered a weak draft class across the league, so this year’s seventh-rounders were like UDFAs for stronger classes.
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At the moment, the rookies on the active roster are Jadarian Price, Julian Neal, and Beau Stephens. Bud Clark is on IR, so he’ll be seen again in 2027. Neal has missed a lot of time due to a quad injury, so it’s basically on Price’s shoulders to provide some rookie contributions this year.
Seattle also had none of its own UDFA rookies make the roster, which is similarly unsurprising, but Foster may as well be a UDFA rookie given he was injured last season. Add in Avery Smith and I guess there’s your other UDFA rookie.
What’s your biggest takeaway from the Seahawks’ initial roster? Tell us in the comments! Or tell us in The Feed! Take your pick!
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