Getty The Seahawks released ex-Cowboys pass rusher Aldon Smith.
After trying to acquire Aldon Smith last season from the Dallas Cowboys, the Seattle Seahawks signed the pass rusher in free agency, but it remains to be seen whether he will take a snap for the team this season. ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported Smith is on the roster bubble heading into training camp.
“The terms of Smith’s one-year deal — for the minimum salary and only $137,500 guaranteed — indicated that he wasn’t assured of sticking with the Seahawks even before his most recent legal troubles,” Henderson detailed. “His chances of making the team are further complicated by a battery charge in Louisiana, for which he has yet to be arraigned. Smith had an excused absence from mandatory minicamp because he didn’t feel that he was in good enough shape to participate. For a team with a deep group of edge rushers, the Seahawks are viewing the 31-year-old Smith as a potential luxury as opposed to someone they’re counting on.”
Days after signing with the Seahawks in April, Smith turned himself in to New Orleans area authorities in association with a battery charge, per Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta. Smith was later released on bail and is awaiting his arraignment.
Smith Did Not Participate in the Seahawks Minicamp This Offseason
The pass rusher did not participate in minicamp practices this offseason, and Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll revealed the team “didn’t feel like he was ready.” Aside from the ongoing legal challenges, there are no other indications that Smith would miss training camp.
“He’s in town and he’s been working out,” Carroll noted in June, per Sports Illustrated. “Didn’t feel like he was ready for this yet, but we’ll see how he handles himself through the summertime, the conditioning he gets into. But we’re looking forward to him making it and getting out here. I just felt it was best for him at this point to just work out on his own.”
The Seahawks Enter the 2021 Season with a Loaded Defensive Line
After a four-year layoff, Smith posted five sacks, 48 tackles and 14 quarterback hits in 16 starts for the Cowboys in 2020. The defensive line has been one of the team’s biggest question marks heading into the last two seasons. The Seahawks have been hard at work this offseason to drastically improve the unit.
Seattle signed Smith along with ex-49ers pass rusher Kerry Hyder Jr. and former Cardinals first-round pick Robert Nkemdiche. The Seahawks were also able to re-sign Carlos Dunlap, who was by far their top pass rusher on the defensive line, along with Benson Mayowa.
After missing his entire rookie season, the Seahawks are also expecting Darrell Taylor to be a key pass rusher this season. Prior to the draft, Seahawks general manager John Schneider admitted the team had been eying Smith for some time and felt comfortable taking a chance given he signed a “minimum salary deal.”
“The research is he was working out down in Los Angeles,” Schneider explained in April, via Seahawks.com. “We had people last year, people that were with him all the time, and we were interested last year. Dallas basically outbid several other teams, and he was comfortable going there, had coaches on the staff that knew him, and they felt like they had a really good plan in place for him. …We’ve researched it with Aldon. This last time, it was a minimum salary deal, and we decided to take a shot and go for it.”