Seahawks Waive CB John Reid, Avoid Giving Up Conditional Draft Choice

Less than a week after being acquired from the Texans, the Seahawks moved on quickly from Reid during final roster cuts, but the organization hopes to be able to retain him on the practice squad.

Just five days after being acquired via trade, the Seahawks waived second-year cornerback John Reid as part of their final roster cuts from 80 to 53 players on Tuesday.

Reid, a 2020 fourth-round pick out of Penn State, was dealt to Seattle in exchange for a conditional seventh-round draft choice last Wednesday. He participated in the team's last three practices and the preseason finale on Saturday night, producing one tackle while playing 10 defensive snaps at left cornerback.

According to Brady Henderson of ESPN, under conditions of the trade, Reid would have had to play in at least six regular season games for the Seahawks to surrender a 2023 seventh-round pick to the Texans. While it's possible that he could return as  a member of the practice squad and eventually be promoted to the active roster to fulfill that condition, for now, the team won't be on the hook for giving up any draft compensation.

This isn't the first time in recent memory where the Seahawks sent a conditional late round pick elsewhere for a cornerback and then promptly waived the player. Back in 2019, the team shipped a conditional seventh-round pick to the Jets for cornerback Parry Nickerson, only to release him one week later.

With the arrival of Sidney Jones, who Seattle acquired from Jacksonville for a sixth-round pick on Monday, Reid's chances of making the 53-man roster were slim. He was already competing for a reserve spot against Tre Flowers, Tre Brown, Gavin Heslop, and Damarious Randall and adding Jones to the fold pushed him further onto the wrong side of the roster bubble.

Boasting quality athletic traits and positional versatility, the 25-year old Reed should be one of Seattle's top priorities to bring back to the practice squad for further development. But it's possible given his youth that another team could pluck him off the waiver wire in the next 24 hours.