Seahawks Notebook: No preseason, G Chance Warmack opts out season

There’s been some major Seahawks news over the last few days, starting with the trade for All-Pro safety Jamal Adams, which was soon followed by the release/waiving of nine players on Sunday, including center Joey Hunt and defensive end Branden Jackson, and then on Monday, cornerback Quinton Dunbar was placed on the NFL’s Commissioner’s Exempt List.

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But two other pieces of Seahawks news came out Monday afternoon – one that we had been expecting to be made official and the other a bit of a surprise. Let’s start with what we thought was to be the case.

No preseason games in 2020

It’s going to be a lot harder for rookies both drafted and undrafted to either make rosters or carve out roles this year as the NFL officially announced that there will be no preseason games. The Seahawks posted the news on their official website.

Normally, every team plays four preseason contests with some teams playing five if they are in the NFL’s Hall of Fame Game. It was reported earlier this offseason that the league was planning to cut the first and fourth preseason games from each team’s schedule, keeping two contests for each squad. But players, in negotiations to attend training camp, wanted no preseason games due. The players’ union and the league agreed to that during their agreement on a wide array of issues such as COVID-19 testing late last week.

The Seahawks were initially scheduled to face of with the Raiders, Texans, Chargers and Vikings during the preseason. Of those four teams, the Seahawks only play Minnesota during the regular season.

Chance Warmack opts out of the season

Chance Warmack, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Tennessee Titans who signed with the Seahawks this offseason on a one-year deal to compete for a guard spot. Well, that evidently won’t happen, as Warmack has reportedly opted out of the 2020 season per NFL Network reporter Mike Garofolo. Seattle Times reporter Bob Condotta confirmed the report, and said Warmack is opting out because he has people close to him who have contracted COVID-19, not because he himself is high risk.

Warmack last played in 2018 for the Eagles and sat out in 2019.

#Seahawks OL Chance Warmack will be taking a voluntary opt-out for this season, source says. The former 10th overall pick, who sat out last season, had signed with Seattle in the spring.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 27, 2020

Warmack’s deal was for just under $1 million and wasn’t guaranteed, and Condotta reports that he will receive $150,000 of the deal as a stipend and he will remain a Seahawk for 2021.

The Seahawks made a ton of moves on the offensive line this offseason, cutting Justin Britt, D.J. Fluker and Joey Hunt while re-signing Mike Iupati and adding Warmack, Brandon Shell, B.J. Finney and also drafting Damien Lewis. Warmack was likely fighting for a backup spot, as it would seem the favorites to win the starting guard spots were Lewis, Iupati, Jarmarco Jones and Phil Haynes.

Warmack was on the team’s current roster, so his departure opens up a spot, perhaps for another offensive lineman, a bigger move such as Jadeveon Clowney, or even re-signing someone like Joey Hunt on a cheaper deal.

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