The Seattle Seahawks set their initial 53-man roster on Tuesday afternoon. The biggest surprise arguably occurred at the offensive line positions, where general manager John Schneider kept a sizable 11 players. That included four rookies, including undrafted center Jalen Sundell. Retaining Sundell was especially surprising because that makes three centers on the roster, including Connor Williams and Olu Oluwatimi.
Big-time success story with UDFA IOL Jalen Sundell making #Seahawks 53.@TheDraftNetwork was high on him.https://t.co/1lcXajvHTH
— Justin M (@JustinM_NFL) August 27, 2024
You start to wonder if Sundell was kept as insurance for Williams, who continues to recover from last year’s season-ending knee injury. The Seahawks signed Williams on August 6th, mere days before their first preseason game. Unsurprisingly, Williams didn’t play in any exhibition contests.
Williams partook in his first practice with the Seahawks on August 20th, exactly one week from roster cut-down-day. Head coach Mike Macdonald has integrated Williams slowly, managing his workload and increasing his participation just slightly as the practices go by. Perhaps that’s why the Seahawks felt the need to initially keep two centers behind him.
Oluwatimi would be Macdonald’s first-choice center if Williams suffered a setback or wasn’t physically ready for Week 1. But that would leave the Seahawks thin at backup center, considering none of the reserve guards have experience playing the position. Perhaps that’s why Schneider felt the need to initially roster Sundell.
It’s also worth acknowledging that the league office will process waiver claims that were submitted on eligible players that were released on Wednesday morning. Schneider could take advantage of that system as an opportunity to upgrade the back-end of his roster. If the Seahawks are confident in Williams’ health, Sundell could be a placeholder for a recently released player that joins the roster on Wednesday.
The Seahawks hold the 16th-highest priority in the waiver wire. For now, keeping three centers, including the undrafted surprise in Sundell, allows the mind to wander regarding Williams’ Week 1 outcomes. Here’s to hoping Sundell simply earned a spot via impressive practice showings and that it has nothing to do with Williams at all.
