| 08 September 2009
When people ask for the big surprise hiding within the cuts made by the Seahawks on Saturday the obvious first response is "they cut Brian Russell!" It's obvious largely because there is a chorus of joyful unicorns singing it behind whomever happens to be saying it. The D.D. Lewis cut was another one that blindsided a lot of people, myself included, but it makes some sense given the state of the linebacking corps.
But what about Derek Walker?
While anyone who paid close attention would have noticed that Walker was playing very well in the preseason, there was literally no discussion about him making the 53. His first and fourth game were excellent, but still waned in comparison to the big two - Reed and Bennett. Why did he make the team when our secondary and O-line clearly need better depth and our D-Line is utterly stacked? There are a couple of possible reasons:
- Ruskell, Mora, et al thought that Derek Walker was one of the top 53 people on the 75 man roster. Hmm, I'm not sold.
- The personnel people did not think that Walker would clear waivers if he was released with the cuts; if this is the case, they may well release him right before or right after week one, as they did last year with Justin Forsett. How'd that work out for ya? Well, actually, he's on the squad so I suppose fairly well.
- The third option is the one that I buy into the most: the Hawks wanted to save a roster spot for someone else. The first two options play into this though -- Walker was the 53rd man on the roster (well, maybe 52nd since they cut Kyle Williams), and they thought by holding onto him longer he would be more likely to be snuck onto the practice squad. A lot of teams do this -- basically use a roster spot on someone they don't expect to stay on the long-run 53. It gives them a chance to evaluate other players who were cut and possibly some veterans.
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