Reports: Former Seahawk Bryan Walters signs with Jaguars
Mar 13, 2015, 9:59 AM | Updated: 10:08 am
Bryan Walters averaged 7.7 yards on 27 chances as Seattle's primary punt returner last season. (AP)
(AP)
BY
Former Seattle Sports Lead Editor
The Seahawks figured to be looking for an upgrade at punt returner this offseason after not getting much in that department out of Bryan Walters last year. That’s even more likely now that Walters has signed with the Jaguars, according to reports from Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun and Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union.
Walters had a 7.7-yard average on 27 chances with 23 fair catches last year as the Seahawks’ primary punt returner. As a team, Seattle’s 7-yard average ranked 25th in the NFL and represented a significant dropoff from the previous season when Golden Tate was handling punt-return duties.
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Walters caught six passes for 57 yards while seeing limited snaps as a member of Seattle’s wide-receiver rotation.
The writing was seemingly on the wall when the Seahawks opted not to tender Walters as a restricted free agent, which made him a unrestricted free agent and therefore free to sign with any other team.
Walters, who attended high school Kirkland, Wash., joined the Seahawks late in the 2012 season. He becomes Seattle’s fifth free-agent defection this offseason, joining Byron Maxwell, James Carpenter, Malcolm Smith and O’Brien Schofield.
Seattle could have new returners at both spots at the beginning of next season with Walters moving on and Paul Richardson in danger of having to begin the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list while recovering from ACL surgery. Richardson took over kickoff-return duties for Seattle once Percy Harvin was traded.
