Huard: Why the Seahawks brought back versatile DB DeShawn Shead
Jul 29, 2019, 1:33 PM
DeShawn Shead returned to the Seahawks after a year with the Detroit Lions. (Getty)
(Getty)
A familiar face has been practicing in the Seahawks’ secondary the last couple days at training camp in Renton: DeShawn Shead.
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Shead left the Seahawks for Detroit in free agency after the 2017 season, a campaign in which he played just two games due to a torn ACL suffered in the playoffs the previous season. That tenure with the Lions didn’t go as planned, as Detroit cut Shead and then re-signed him to a league-minimum deal. Shead appeared in 12 games in Detroit, starting just one.
The Seahawks brought Shead back on Saturday, and he has hit the ground running. Known for his versatility during his first tenure with Seattle from 2012-17, that is one reason why he could find a spot on the Seahawks roster this year. Brock Huard said there is another reason why during Monday’s Blue 42 segment on 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock and Salk.
“Because DeShawn Shead is a Seahawk,” Huard said. “If you were to ask (Seahawks general manager) John Schneider (to) write out what a Seahawk is, you go through the list — a humble guy, a competitive guy, a versatile guy, a hard-working guy, a whatever-is-asked guy, a gritty guy. Yep, (Shead) checks every single box.
“If he was a little bit of a faster guy I don’t think he would have ever gone to Detroit. That ACL injury, the Seahawks did him right — they allowed him to test free agency, Detroit signs him to a one-year deal, ultimately cuts him and signs him back to a minimum deal. The Seahawks were kind of full on their roster last year (after Shead was cut), and then he’s sitting around this whole offseason, comes in for a workout, and as Pete Carroll says, not only is he a Seahawk, he is a versatile dude.”
While Shead settled in as more of a cornerback in recent years, he figures in more at safety for the Seahawks, who lost Earl Thomas in free agency this offseason and are exceedingly young at the position.
“We were watching practice Thursday (before Shead was signed) and kinda looking at the safeties, and it’s Bradley (McDougald) and Tedric (Thompson) and, well, and then what?” Huard said. “(Shead gives Seattle) a guy that knows the system inside and out, an incredible Seahawk through his first six years here, and I think with his versatility he has a really good shot to make this roster.”
You can find to the full Blue 42 segment in this podcast of Brock and Salk’s first hour from Monday’s show.
