John Schneider: Noah Fant was a "pure cap casaulty"

As training camp opened, Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald declined to delve into the reasons for the decision to release veteran tight end Noah Fant.

On Monday, Seahawks G.M. John Schneider disclosed the one reason for the move. Appearing on Seattle Sports, Schneider said Fant was a "pure cap casualty."

"He works his tail off, he can run," Schneider said regarding Fant, via Michael-Shawn Dugar of TheAthletic.com. "He's a good tight end and he'll have a a very nice productive year this year. We just felt like - in getting back to what I was saying about doing what's best for the organization - we were at a point where we were just saying to ourselves, 'OK, you know, can we - unfortunately, you have to look at things like this - like can we use that cash to help our team in a different manner? And are we OK at that position? And are we covered there? And while we never feel like we're totally covered, you know, guys did have very strong springs."

And that's how it often goes with older, more expensive players.

The Seahawks could have welcomed Fant to camp, gotten him ready for the season, and then asked him to take a pay cut when it otherwise would be too late to land elsewhere. Instead, they made a clean break. It gave him a chance to land with a new team. And he has landed with the Bengals.

It wasn't a completely selfless move. The Seahawks risked owing him $8.49 million in salary this year, if he had suffered a season-ending injury during camp. They cleared that cash and cap obligation by moving on before camp opened.