Tedric Thompson Unlikely to Return to Seahawks in 2020

After spending his first three seasons in the Pacific Northwest, Thompson has been granted permission to seek a trade, signaling the beginning of the end to his time with the Seahawks.

Heading into the offseason, general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks knew they would likely need to make some tough roster decisions from a financial standpoint.

While deciding on which players should become cap casualties is never an easy decision, it’s one that the Seahawks will be forced to make in coming weeks as salary cap space dries up during the early stages of free agency.

Despite being less than a week into the new league year, Schneider has already begun preparing to shed some money off Seattle’s payroll for next season.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Seahawks have given free safety Tedric Thompson permission to seek a trade this offseason. In addition, Rapoport noted that Schneider and his staff will likely be asking for a late-round draft pick in return.

Seattle #Seahawks starting free safety Tedric Thompson has been given permission to seek a trade, source said. Would likely be for a late-round draft pick.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2020

If Seattle can find a suitor for Thompson and receive draft compensation for him, then they would save $2.13 million in cap space. However, locating a new home for the 25-year old free safety could prove to be very difficult.

Along with Thompson’s expensive $2.3 million salary for next season, the fourth-year pro is also recovering from labrum surgery that ended his 2019 season prematurely. It remains unclear when he'll be ready to return to the field.

As Brady Henderson of ESPN mentioned, Seattle did receive some calls regarding interest in trading for Thompson last season. There appeared to be a market for the former Colorado standout's services before opted to undergo season-ending surgery, but it seems unlikely another team would want to trade anything for him now.

Some context I can add to @RapSheet's report that the Seahawks have given FS Tedric Thompson permission to seek a trade: There was a market for Thompson before the deadline last year, from what I've been told. A trade seems unlikely now that he's coming off labrum surgery ...

— Brady Henderson (@BradyHenderson) March 19, 2020

Aside from recovering from his injury, Thompson hasn’t consistently performed well during his first three seasons in the league. Before the 6-foot safety’s shoulder surgery ended his 2019 campaign, the former fourth-round selection started in six games and produced 19 total tackles, two pass deflections, and two interceptions.

However, he drew the ire of coach Pete Carroll for blown coverages on multiple occasions, including allowing Ravens receiver Myles Boykin behind him for an explosive pass play in Week 7. Shortly after, the Seahawks traded for Quandre Diggs to upgrade the free safety position.

In 2018, Thompson played in 14 regular season games and recorded 57 total tackles, three pass deflections, one forced fumble, and one interception. Despite these respectable numbers, No. 33 struggled mightily in coverage.

He allowed a passer rating of 126.7 against him, which would have been the sixth-worst among all safeties in the league, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. In addition, he also gave up 19.2 yards/reception and a 63.6 percent catch rate during his second season in the NFL.

Based on these results, the Seahawks are likely making the smart move by deciding to ultimately part ways with Thompson before next season. Since both sides were probably destined to separate after the 2020 campaign anyway, it makes a lot of sense to cut ties with him this spring instead.

Even if Thompson departs, Seattle is still expected to have plenty of depth at both safety positions on the roster. Currently, Diggs and Bradley McDougald are slated to be the starters next season and Marquise Blair and Lano Hill will both be featured in backup roles.

If Thompson’s camp fails to locate a trading partner in quick fashion, Seattle will likely be forced to release him later this summer. Regardless of what happens, it seems that we've seen the last of him in a Seahawks uniform.