Seattle Seahawks GM John Schneider gets brutally honest about Al Woods' release
Seattle Seahawks tackle Al Woods’ release was the surprising move of the NFL offseason, and now general manager John Schneider is honest regarding why it happened.
The NFL is a brutal place, teams ask for a player's best years, and as soon as their time is up, teams show that former star the door.
That is what happened to the Seattle Seahawks' captain Al Woods, who was a surprise release by the team.
Finally, Seahawks general manager John Schneider gave his rationale for showing Woods the door. And his reasoning is as brutal as most NFL business comes down to — salary cap space.
Schneider spoke during his weekly spot on Seattle Sports and provided insight into why a team's defensive leader, who signed a new two-year deal last season, was released.
“Al’s situation was really cash and cap,” Schneider said. “Everybody has a cash budget in the NFL that you need to work within, and every team is probably slightly different. Although it may show if you go to like websites or whatever and say, ‘Hey, where are the Seahawks with their salary cap?’ there’s a lot of budgeted items that fall into that as well when you talk about incentives, premium roster bonuses, injuries.”
Salary cap casualties are a way of life in the NFL. But it still feels surreal when it happens to leaders of a franchise.
There is still an outside chance the Woods can return to Seattle on a team-friendly contract. That isn't close to a guarantee, however. And with Woods last season, Seattle's defense wasn't as great as it was in years prior.
The Seahawks' defense ranked 25th in the league for points against (23.6) and gave up the third-worst rushing yards per game (150.2 yards).
At Woods' age, he grew more expendable with the lack of production. And his jettison from Seattle is part of an offseason that had a primary goal of overhauling the defensive line.
If he returns on a team-friendly deal, Seattle's love story with Woods can reach a more amicable ending. But if he finds a market for his 39 combined tackles, five tackles for loss, and three quarterback hits last season, he may probably make more money elsewhere.
For a few days, Seattle fans didn't know why Woods was let go. Now, they have the answer.
