Saturday was cutdown day for the Seattle Seahawks and when the team trimmed its roster down to 53 it surprised many observers by keeping seven linebackers on the roster in spite of the fact that the team is widely considered to have one of the best, if not the best, group of starting linebackers in the NFL. Between Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright and Mychal Kendricks, the ability to apply pressure, stop the run and cover in the secondary is unmatched among other NFL linebacker groups.
Thus the surprise when the team kept both 2019 draft picks Cody Barton and Ben Burr-Kirven, as well as 2018 rookies Austin Calitro and Shaquem Griffin.