Seahawks add former Jets starting CB Bless Austin, per reports
Sep 5, 2021, 2:06 PM
Reported Seahawks addition Bless Austin played 11 games for the Jets in 2020. (Getty)
(Getty)
The Seahawks are reportedly continuing to configure their cornerback room, with former Jets starter Bless Austin the latest to enter the picture.
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Dave Wyman, co-host of 710 ESPN Seattle’s Wyman and Bob and Seahawks Radio Network color commentator, reported during Q13 FOX’s broadcast of Seahawks Saturday Night that Seattle is signing the 25-year-old Austin. ESPN Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson wrote Sunday that a source has confirmed the signing to ESPN.
Austin, who is entering his third pro season, was expected to be a starter once again for New York this season but instead was a surprise release by the Jets on Wednesday. He cleared waivers, allowing for Seattle’s reported signing.
“I’m very appreciative toward Bless,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said following Austin’s release, according to The Associated Press. “He’s a good young man. With the youth that we have at corner and the competition they’ve been able to provide and the growth they’ve all been able to have since OTAs and training camp, we’re going to give those guys a run and give them an opportunity to compete over this last week and a half and roll with those guys.”
A 2019 sixth-round pick out of Rutgers, Austin has 88 total tackles in 18 career games with New York, 16 of which he has started. He made four passes defensed in each of his first two seasons but is still looking for his first NFL interception. He had three tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a QB hit in his 11 games last season.
💪 @BlessuanAustin 💪 pic.twitter.com/g3Bv4XvzDt
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 13, 2020
The addition of the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Austin is just one of several moves the Seahawks have made at an unsettled cornerback position since their final preseason game on Aug. 28. First, they cut John Reid, who they had acquired late in training camp in a trade with the Houston Texans, when they set their initial 53-man roster Tuesday (he has since been added to Seattle’s practice squad). They also picked up former UW Huskies standout Sidney Jones from Jacksonville in a trade that was first reported Monday, and sent Ahkello Witherspoon, a signing in free agency early this offseason, to Pittsburgh in a trade on Friday.
Tre Flowers is the presumptive starter opposite D.J. Reed at cornerback entering the Seahawks’ Week 1 game against the Colts in Indianapolis. That game is set for a 10 a.m. kickoff next Sunday, Sept. 12, with coverage beginning on 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio 97.3 FM starting with the pregame show at 7 a.m.
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