The Seahawks rescinded Ryan Neal’s tender over the weekend and it didn’t take long for him to find a new home. Yesterday Jordan Schultz reported that Neal will be signing with the Buccaneers.
Neal confirmed the news on his Instagram page, sharing a classy farewell message for Seattle, which reads as follows.
“Seattle has been a special place for me the past 4 years. A place I won’t ever forget. You grabbed a kid scratching to break a roster, and allowed him to grow. Thank you to everyone in the building. Yall made coming to work easy. Thank you to my teammates, the love is real. Forever grateful for the PNW. Thank you 💙. #GodMade”
Neal mostly served as a backup for his first three years in Seattle. However, in the second half of the 2022 season Neal became their best and most-reliable defender, eventually earning one of the highest PFF grades at his position for the year and making their All-Pro team.
While Neal played well, the Seahawks need all the extra cash they can get right now, as they don’t have nearly enough room to sign their 2023 draft class. It was also doing Neal a solid – by rescinding his tender Seattle allowed him to get more value on the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
Moving forward, it sounds like the Seahawks plan to use more three-safety sets with Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs and Julian Love all projected to start.
