SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

Former Seahawks teammates, NFL figures react to death of Pro Football Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy

May 23, 2017, 11:06 AM | Updated: 3:12 pm

Cortez Kennedy was inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor and Pro Football Hall of Fame. (AP)...

Cortez Kennedy was inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor and Pro Football Hall of Fame. (AP)

(AP)

Dave Wyman of 710 ESPN Seattle said he spent half of Tuesday morning hoping that the news originally reported by TMZ wasn’t true. When it was confirmed by Orlando police that legendary Seahawks defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy died at the age of 48, Wyman said he was in a state of shock.

“It’s hard to process,” Wyman said. “Every time I saw him he looked good and he had lost a lot of weight. He just never did wrong. He was just a good soul, one of the most unselfish teammates I’ve ever had and one of those fun-loving guys.”

Clayton on Cortez Kennedy | Audio: Dave Wyman shares Kennedy stories

Wyman spent three seasons (1990-92) in Seattle with Kennedy, one of the best players in franchise history. Wyman’s final season with Kennedy came when the defensive tackle earned NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors.

“He was one of the most disruptive players in the history of the game but also a really good soul,” Wyman said. “Never petty. Never anything but a good teammate. Never uttered an ill word about anybody.”

Fellow 710 ESPN Seattle host Brock Huard played with Kennedy in Seattle in 1999 and 2000, Huard’s first two seasons in the NFL and Kennedy’s last.

“I would say Tez was the kindest and most gentle giant that I ever played with in Seattle,” Huard said. “He didn’t need to take me under his wing in any way, but he had the patience and heart to do so.”

Steve Raible, the voice of the Seahawks broadcasts on 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio as well as a former Seahawk himself, said Kennedy was the “blueprint” of a defensive tackle and one of the greatest players in franchise history.

“Certainly for Seattle football he was, I’ve heard the word used a couple of times today already, and that’s royalty,” Raible said. “He was that. Anybody that makes it up there into that Ring (of Honor), and you think of the (Jim) Zorns and the (Steve) Largents and the Curt Warners of the world, Cortez stood as high or higher than all.”

Something Raible said made Kennedy’s career so remarkable was that he somehow exceeded lofty expectations as the No. 3 overall pick in the 1990 NFL Draft.

“The expectations were great on him. … Everybody knew what a great football player he was, but I don’t even think the experts, the guys who coached him, the guys who scouted him, knew he would become what he did become, ultimately.”

Here are some other reactions to Kennedy’s death from the Seahawks, former teammates, NFL legends and more.

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Former Seahawks teammates, NFL figures react to death of Pro Football Hall of Famer Cortez Kennedy