The Seattle Seahawks waived third-year nose tackle Cameron Young on Wednesday, which opens up a spot on their 90-man roster ahead of this week’s NFL Draft.
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Young, a 2023 fourth-round draft pick out of Mississippi State, missed nearly all of last season with a knee injury. He appeared in only one game, logging just two defensive snaps and one special teams snap.
The 6-foot-3, 304-pound Young spent his rookie season in a backup role, making one start and appearing in 16 games. He recorded 18 tackles, one tackle for loss, a pass breakup and a quarterback hit that year, while logging 205 defensive snaps and 86 special teams snaps.
Young is the first player to be waived from the Seahawks’ 2023 draft class. The other nine are still on Seattle’s roster.
Young’s release further reinforces the need for Seattle to add defensive line depth in the draft. The Seahawks have a strong interior trio in Leonard Williams, Jarran Reed and Byron Murphy II, but the depth behind them is thin. Roy Robertson-Harris, a rotational piece on Seattle’s D-line last year, signed with the New York Giants in free agency. Veteran nose tackle Johnathan Hankins, another rotational piece last season, remains unsigned in free agency.
This year’s draft is considered to have the deepest class of defensive linemen in years. ESPN has 30 defensive tackles ranked among its top 250 prospects, including seven among its top 50: Michigan’s Mason Graham, Oregon’s Derrick Harmon, Ole Miss’ Walter Nolen, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, Toledo’s Darius Alexander, Texas A&M’s Shemar Turner and South Carolina’s T.J. Sanders.
After waiving Young, the Seahawks have 23 open spots on their 90-man roster that they can fill up with draft picks and undrafted free agent signings.
