National Football League

Seahawks make roster moves to reach 53-man limit

Published Sep. 1, 2012 3:51 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Seattle Seahawks kept veteran wide receivers Braylon Edwards and Ben Obomanu on their final 53-man roster Friday night and waived returning young receivers Deon Butler, Kris Durham and Ricardo Lockette.

There were little surprises on Seattle's final 53-man roster. If the past two years are any example, the roster will still see significant flux over the next few days as the Seahawks have been successful with signings after cut day in each of Pete Carroll's first two years as head coach.

If there was a surprise it was the decision to activate offensive lineman James Carpenter from the physically unable to perform list. Carpenter did not participate in any of training camp while the 2011 first-round pick continues his recovery from a serious knee injury late last season.

The rest of Seattle's cuts include: DB Phillip Adams, DE Pierre Allen, LB Allen Bradford, G Paul Fanaika, G Rishaw Johnson, WR Jermaine Kearse, LB Kyle Knox, DE Cordarro Law, TE Sean McGrath, C Kris O'Dowd, QB Josh Portis, DB DeShawn Shead, LB Korey Toomer and WR Lavasier Tuinei.

Seattle also waived/injured tight end Cooper Helfet and running back Vai Taua; reached an injury settlement with defensive lineman Pep Levingston, put linebacker Matt McCoy on injured reserve and placed cornerback Walter Thurmond III on the physically unable to perform list. The Seahawks will also be without backup offensive lineman Allen Barbre for four weeks while he serves a league-imposed suspension.

The Seahawks chose to go into the regular season with just two quarterbacks on the active roster after cutting Portis, who may be a candidate for Seattle's practice squad. Rookie Russell Wilson will be the starter with Matt Flynn as his backup.

The decision to cut Adams was a surprise after he spent most of the preseason working with the second-team defense at cornerback. But that move kept rookie Jeremy Lane and second-year cornerback Byron Maxwell on the active roster. By releasing McGrath, the Seahawks are initially planning on going into the regular season with three tight ends - Kellen Winslow, Zach Miller and Anthony McCoy.

But easily the biggest shock had nothing to do with a player being released, but with Carpenter getting activated off the PUP list and a positive sign in his recovery. Carpenter was drafted to be a right tackle for Seattle, but will move to guard when he returns, a comeback that will happen sooner than was expected.

By keeping Edwards and Obomanu, Seattle is moving forward with a six-man wide receiving group featuring Sidney Rice, Doug Baldwin, Golden Tate and free-agent Charly Martin. With Butler and Martin Essentially trying to fill the same role, Martin proved more versatile on special teams and with a bit more speed off the line than Butler, who missed part of last season while recovering from a broken leg suffered late in the 2010 season.

Durham missed the latter half of his rookie season after suffering a torn labrum in his shoulder and requiring surgery. The Seahawks were hoping the lanky receiver with deceptive speed could step into the role that Mike Williams previously held. But it was obvious early in camp the Seahawks were not satisfied with the receiver position and brought in both Edwards and Terrell Owens. Owens was released last weekend. Edwards might be starting on Sept. 9 at Arizona.

Durham was one of the Seahawks' two draft picks to be released. The other was Toomer, who was a fifth-round selection in April's draft out of Idaho, but struggled in making the transition to the NFL.

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