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Seahawks Make Roster Moves, Including Signing Of DB DeShawn Shead

The Seahawks made a handful of roster moves Saturday, including bringing back a familiar face. 

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The Seahawks signed DeShawn Shead on Saturday, bringing back a former starting cornerback and key special teams contributor who began his NFL career with Seattle in 2012 as an undrafted rookie out of Portland State.

The Seahawks also signed linebacker Jawuan Johnson, an undrafted rookie out of TCU who took part in Seattle's rookie minicamp as a tryout player.

To make room on the roster, the Seahawks waived Caleb Scott with a non-football injury designation, and placed linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee on injured reserve. Scott, who signed with Seattle as an undrafted rookie last year, injured his foot earlier this offseason during workout out away from the team.

Shead, 30, spent his rookie season and part of 2013 on Seattle's practice squad before earning a promotion late in his second season, and briefly saw playing time in Super Bowl XLVIII at strong safety in place of Kam Chancellor, who left the game for a series with a leg injury before returning. He established himself first as a special teams standout and versatile backup who could play cornerback and both safety positions, then became a full-time starter in 2016 at right cornerback. Shead tore his ACL in a January playoff loss to Atlanta that season, causing him to miss all but two games in 2017, then signed with Detroit as a free agent last year, appearing in 12 games with one start.

"He's been a great Seahawk," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll once said of Shead. "He's done so many things, he's come out of the ranks and worked his way up. He became a core special teams guy by doing things right and playing hard and being a great kid, and has worked his way around long enough that he knows how to play everything in the system back there. He's very valuable to us and the versatility is unusual."

Johnson, who joined TCU as a graduate transfer in 2018 after previously playing at Northern Illinois, started seven games for the Horned Frogs, finishing with 70 tackles.

Photos from the second day of Seahawks 2019 training camp, presented by Safeway held on Friday, July 26 at Renton's Virginia Mason Athletic Center.

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