RENTON, Wash. — Kam Chancellor remains away from the Seahawks. Their rugged strong safety is due soon for another round of tests and then a doctor's assessment on the neck injury that threatens his career.
Unproven second-year man Delano Hill has been in Chancellor's starting spot during offseason practices.
Have the Seahawks talked about possibly signing free-agent strong safety Eric Reid?
Reid and Colin Kaepernick are the controversial former San Francisco 49ers pressing collusion grievances against NFL teams for remaining unemployed after protesting during the national anthem.
"We talk about everybody," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Thursday when asked specifically about Reid at the end of offseason organized team activities.
Reid has started 69 games the last five seasons for San Francisco. Asked if Reid could compete for a spot on the 2018 Seahawks, Carroll said: "Yeah, I think he could compete. He could do a nice job."
Carroll has coached against Reid nine times in Seattle's NFC West games against the 49ers the last five seasons.
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Carroll said Reid brings "consistency" and is a "hard-nosed, tough guy. Good speed, really good speed.
"He's been a real physical player, for the most part. He's been a good part of their team."
Yahoo Sports and the Washington Post reported Thursday attorneys for Kaepernick and Reid are considering seeking depositions from President Trump and Vice President Pence as part of the unsigned players' collusion grievances. Reid's and Kaepernick's case accuse NFL teams of conspiring to keep them out of the league.
Trump and Pence have sharply criticized as un-American the protests of Reid, Kaepernick, former Seahawk Michael Bennett, current Seahawks left tackle Duane Brown and other NFL players during the national anthem at games. The president and vice president have contributed to a national firestorm over the issue the last two league seasons.
An arbitrator, University of Pennsylvania law professor Stephen Burbank, is overseeing Reid's and Kaepernick's grievances.
The players' sitting and kneeling during the anthem, which Kaepernick started in the summer of 2016, has been to raise awareness and spur action for police brutality and mistreatment of minorities in this country.
Pence showed up last October at a 49ers game in Indianapolis, then left because of protests during the anthem by San Francisco players including Reid. Trump then said he directed Pence, the former governor of Indiana, to do that if Reid and any of his 49ers teammates protested during the anthem that day in Indianapolis.
In May 2017 the Seahawks became the first and still only NFL team to host Kaepernick on a free-agent visit since the former Super Bowl quarterback and the 49ers mutually agreed to end his contract in January 2017. The Seahawks signed veteran journeyman QB Austin Davis instead to backup Russell Wilson in the 2017 offseason, and did so again this spring.
After Kaepernick's visit Carroll said the reason Seattle passed on him was because Kaepernick is a starting-caliber quarterback in the league and the team already has one in Wilson.
Reid, 26, became a free agent after his contract with the 49ers expired following the 2017 season. The league-owned NFL Network reported in April that San Francisco considered bringing back Reid for 2018 on a one-year contract, but that he declined to pursue a longer-term deal. Reid reportedly visited the Cincinnati Bengals this offseason.
He is four years younger than Chancellor, who has been limited by multiple injuries the last few Seahawks seasons. Chancellor got his latest one, a serious neck, nerve injury, late in Seattle's win at Arizona in November.
Chancellor will only play again if doctors clear him to, though Carroll said in January Chancellor would have a "hard time playing football again." The coach has since backed off that assessment.
General manager John Schneider has said Chancellor and the Seahawks are waiting on results of an MRI and other tests Chancellor is due to have in late June or early July.
Carroll on Thursday confirmed those tests have yet to happen.
Click here to read the full article from Gregg Bell on the Tacoma News Tribune.
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