Hawks ready to cut Pryor
QB to be among those let go today
SEATTLE – The Seahawks still have some roster calculus to do before they tackle the basic math of wins and losses in their impending regular season.
But they have eliminated one of their biggest roster variables.
An NFL source with knowledge of the imminent trans- action confirmed what Pro- Football Talk.com had reported earlier in the evening, that the Seahawks will release quarterback Terrelle Pryor.
It means the former Oakland Raiders starter will go on waivers, free for any of the other 31 teams to claim.
The team will make the announcement, along with Seattle’s other final cuts, after 1 p.m. today. That’s the league deadline to trim the roster to 53 players for the opening of the regular season.
Pryor’s release means trusted, popular 10-year veteran Tarvaris Jackson will be Russell Wilson’s backup for the second consecutive season. Jackson has a contract guaranteeing him $1.25 million this season.
Pryor has one year remaining at a base salary of $705,000 on the four-year deal he signed with the Raiders in 2011. Any team that would claim him off waivers would pick up his contract.
Seattle acquired Oakland’s starter for parts of three seasons for a seventh-round draft choice this offseason. Coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell were intrigued with the 25-year-old former Ohio State star’s athleticism and creativity. But he often lacked accuracy on even the most basic throws in practices and in four wildly up-and-down exhibition games this month. Percy Harvin was away from the team again Friday, a players’ day off following their middle-of-the-night return from Oakland. The previous three days Harvin was gone for what the Seahawks say is a “personal matter.”
When asked Thursday whether he just gave Harvin another day off, Carroll didn’t directly address the issue.
“We left a lot of guys home and there’s a bunch of faces that didn’t make this trip,” the coach said.