Tracking the Seahawks’ roster moves on cut-down day

The Seahawks and every other NFL team must establish their 53-man rosters by 1 p.m. today. For Seattle, that means clearing 22 roster spots after trimming from 90 to 75 earlier in the week. We’ll update the moves below as they are reported or become official.

The Seahawks have yet to make a formal announcement, but the moves to reduce their roster to 53 are listed on the team’s website. Here they are:

Released: guard Jahri Evans and fullback Will Tukuafu.

Waived: defensive tackles Brandin Bryant and Tani Tupou, tight end Clayton Echard, quarterback Jake Heaps, linebackers Steve Longa and Kache Palacio, wide receivers Kenny Lawler, Douglas McNeil, E.Z. Nwachukwu, Kasen William and Antwan Goodley, running back Troymaine Pope, guard/center Will Pericak, defensive ends Ryan Robinson and Tyler Harris, safety Keenan Lambert and cornerback Tye Smith.

Waived/injured: tight end Joe Sommers, cornerback Marcus Burley, defensive tackle Jordan Hill, linebacker Eric Pinkins and tackle Terry Poole.

Acquired in trades: defensive backs L.J. McCray (from San Francisco) and Dewey McDonald (from Oakland).

• The 49ers announced they’ve traded safety L.J. McCray to the Seattle for an undisclosed draft pick. McCray is a third-year player who was undrafted in 2014 out of Catawba College in North Carolina. He’s listed as 6 feet and 210 pounds and has played in 22 games over his two seasons with San Francisco. The announcement of his trade to Seattle came shortly after a report from Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post that the Seahawks acquired another safety, Dewey McDonald, in a trade with Oakland. McDonald is a third-year player who was undrafted out of California University of Pennsylvania and has appeared in 15 games with Indianapolis, New England and Oakland. He’s listed as 6 feet and 220 pounds. McDonald has since tweeted that he is indeed heading to Seattle. Kelcie McCray will be Seattle’s backup at both safety spots, so the acquisitions of L.J. McCray and McDonald do not bode well for some of the younger players who were competing for one of the final spots, specifically Tyvis Powell and Keenan Lambert.

• Undrafted rookie tackle George Fant has made the team, according to Brad Stephens of the Bowling Green Daily News. That may come as a surprise to some considering Fant is as raw as they come, a college basketball player who played only one season of football at Western Kentucky. That was as a tight end, which means he has only a handful of snaps in game action as a tackle (he’s worked as Seattle’s second-team left tackle this summer). But the Seahawks are sky high on Fant’s potential as a tremendous athlete who has made significant strides during his short time with the team.

• A tweet from wide receiver Tanner McEvoy’s high school in New Jersey congratulated him on making the Seahawks’ roster. He would be either the fifth or sixth wide receiver, depending on how many Seattle is keeping. McEvoy seemed like a long-shot to make the team entering training camp but helped himself with some big plays in the preseason and also by contributing on special teams and also playing tight end, where Seattle has been dealing with some injuries. Kevin Smith and Kasen Williams were challenging for that wide-receiver spot, but hamstring injuries kept them on the sideline for much of the summer and opened the door for McEvoy.

• Rookie cornerback DeAndre Elliott tweeted this: “Ain’t he good!!!” with the hashtag “BlessedBeyondWords.” Make of that what you will. It would seem to be an indication that he has made the team, as surprising as that would be. Elliott, an undrafted free agent out of Colorado State, hasn’t seemed like a serious contender for one of the final cornerback spots, with Tharold Simon, Marcus Burley and Tye Smith playing ahead of him.

• Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reports the Seahawks are waiving Eric Pinkins, a sixth-round pick in 2014 who came to Seattle as a defensive back and then converted to linebacker. Pinkins was on and off Seattle’s roster in his two seasons with the team. He was part of what the team at one point called a “wide-open” competition to start at strong-side linebacker this offseason, but he never seemed to be a serious contender for that spot, which will presumably belong to Mike Morgan. Linebacker seemed like a spot where Seattle could bring in a free agent for depth on or after cut-down day. That seems even more likely with Pinkins being waived.

• Free-agent long-snapper Tyler Ott has seemed to publicly refute the report from Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post that he has signed with the Seahawks. He tweeted Saturday morning at Wilson, “better check your ‘source.’” Here’s the story from Friday on Seattle reportedly signing Ott, which appears to no longer be the case. Seattle’s situation at long-snapper has been in flux since the team released Clint Gresham in March, and it still is eight days from the season opener. Signing Ott would have mean that Seattle was moving on from Nolan Frese, but that’s not so certain now.

• Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network reported Friday that Seattle will release veteran guard Jahri Evans. Here’s more on that move.

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