Seahawks place Jesse Williams on IR, release several players

The Seahawks placed rookie defensive tackle Jesse Williams on injured reserve and released eight players to help cut the roster down Monday.

By Louis Bien@louisbien Aug 26, 2013, 2:10pm EDT

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The Seattle Seahawks placed rookie defensive tackle Jesse Williams on injured reserve and released eight other players to help pare the roster down closer to 75 players for Tuesday's roster deadline. According to the Seahawks' official site, the team will need to make six more roster moves to meet requirements.

Williams fell to the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft largely due to concerns about the knee injury that the Alabama star suffered during the SEC Championship Game. Williams is a potentially elite talent, but he may need spend a season getting back up to full strength before contributing in the NFL. Luckily for the Seahawks, they can stash the 325-pounder on IR and revisit his status in 2014.

Williams was able to start the team's preseason opener against the San Diego Chargers, but he was still being bothered by his knee. Danny Kelly at the Seahawks blog Field Gulls said Williams looked "stiff."

With Williams rehabbing in 2013, Siliga's shot at the roster just took a huge boost, and for what it's worth, I thought he looked really good out there on Friday. Conversely, Jesse Williams' play two weeks ago against Denver was troublesome, and I had thought for a while that he just didn't look 'right'. He seems slow and stiff, and I imagine he loses a lot of his power if he's favoring his knee.

The Seahawks also terminated the contract of veteran wide receiver Brett Swain, and released linebackers Kyle Knox and Craig Wilkins, wide receiver Perez Ashford, tight ends Jameson Konz and Andrei Lintz, defensive tackle Martin Parker and snapper Kyle Nelson.