While the Seattle Seahawks have looked to bolster their defense through the early stages of free agency, they’ve also seen some players move on from the organization. On Thursday, general manager John Schneider talked about the most recent defender to sign elsewhere, safety Ryan Neal.
“We would have loved to have Ryan on our squad this year,” Schneider said during his weekly radio show on Seattle Sports. “Unfortunately, there is a process to free agency and it’s just the reality of it. There’s different phases, there’s different consequences and you’re always competing as much as you can stay in as many deals as you possibly can and then figuring out what you can and can’t do.”
Seattle had originally extended a right of first refusal to Neal, but ended up rescinding it last week, immediately making him an unrestricted free agent.
On Tuesday, Neal agreed to terms with the Buccaneers, ending his career in Seattle . . . for now.
“We had to remove the tender from Ryan and he wound up choosing to go to Tampa for what he thought was a better opportunity,” Schneider explained. “We never close the door and you guys have seen that, and he’ll be a free agent next year.”
