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Update: The Seattle Seahawks have agreed to trade safety Ugo Amadi to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for wide receiver J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero on Monday, August 15.
The Seattle Seahawks and general manager John Schneider are preparing for their first wave of roster cuts during training camp. One name has seemingly already been decided upon, and it’s a surprising one.
According to ESPN’s Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson, the team is set to release safety and former fourth-round pick Ugo Amadi in the first wave of roster cuts.
The Seahawks are required to trim their 90-man roster down to 85 players by Tuesday, August 16. The majority of cuts will come on the last day of the month, when the Seahawks and all 32 NFL teams are required to cut their rosters down to 53 players.
The rest of the players expected to be released was not given at the time of Henderson’s reporting.
Ugo Amadi’s Football Career
At just 25 years old, Amadi should have plenty of football ahead of him after being released by the Seahawks. However, the move to part ways with the safety isn’t something that Amadi anticipated after a successful college career.
Amadi was a 3-star recruit out of Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee. With offers from top programs including Ole Miss, Tennessee, and Cincinnati, Amadi chose instead to head to the west coast and play for the Oregon Ducks.
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The Class of 2015 defensive back became a contributor right away for the Ducks, snagging a pair of interceptions as a true freshman. After a solid first two seasons, Amadi was named a Pac-12 All-Conference honorable selection by coaches as a junior, then burst onto the scene as a senior to win the Lombardi Award and be named a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist.
After a strong end to his college career, Amadi was selected in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft by the Seahawks. While he has never been a full-time starter for the Seahawks, Amadi has been a solid rotational piece as a nickel defensive back.
In three seasons with Seattle, Amadi has racked up 125 combined tackles, 102 solo tackles, 13 pass deflections, and an interception. Pro Football Focus (subscription required)has also viewed Amadi highly, giving him an overall grade of at least 75.0 out of 100 in two of his three NFL seasons, also charting him as giving up an opposing passer rating of just 78.0.
Unfortunately, with so much competition in the secondary, Amadi will be looking to play elsewhere in 2022 and beyond.
Who Will Play in the Slot for Seattle?
With Amadi reportedly being cut, the Seahawks still have a few options to work with in the slot heading into the 2022 season.
Justin Coleman will be one of the favorites to be the starting nickel corner. The 29-year-old went undrafted in 2015, but has stayed around the league as a contributor, even previously playing for the Seahawks in 2017 and 2018. Over the course of his career, he’s picked up 238 combined tackles, 6 interceptions, and 44 pass deflections. His previous time in Seattle and veteran presence makes him a likely favorite to land the starting nickel role.
Don’t sleep on Marquise Blair, however. A second-round pick back in 2019, Blair has the size advantage on Coleman at 6-foot-1. He doesn’t have the in-game experience that Coleman has, however, only playing in 22 games with 0 interceptions and 3 pass deflections in three seasons.
There’s still time for someone else to emerge as a staring-caliber nickel DB, but with Amadi on his way out it’ll likely be either Coleman, Blair, or a combination of both at nickel.
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