Kemah Siverand was cut by the Seattle Seahawks after being caught trying to smuggle a woman into the team hotel earlier this week. Brady Henderson of ESPN wrote that the rookie was shown the door on Thursday after the video of the incident showed the extent to which Siverand went to try and get the visitor up to his room.
Henderson said that the NFL Network was the first to report on the particulars of the incident. Siverand reportedly had the woman put on Seahawks gear in order to sneak in. The intent was to try and make it look as though she was a player.
The release of the rookie defensive back came just one day after head coach Pete Carroll gave a speech to everyone on the roster about how his No. 1 rule was “always protect the team.” In that talk, Carroll praised several veterans for how they were looking out for everyone and making sure every member of the group was taking the right precautions in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.
The coach also talked about how everyone on the Seahawks had to be especially disciplined because of what might happen, should an outbreak occur.
It was reported that the impetus behind the speech was the success the franchise has had in avoiding many infections. It has only had to place one person on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list. Carroll confirmed that the only reason that one incident existed was because of a false positive.
Luis Medina of Bleacher Nation pointed out that teams have been talking about enacting harsh penalties for anyone who doesn’t appear to be taking the pandemic seriously. For Siverand, that punishment included no longer having a spot on the roster.
While he was originally a long shot to make the team, Medina said he did have a chance to be on the depth chart when the season kicked off. Siverand was signed as an undrafted free agent this spring after splitting his college career between Oklahoma State and Texas A&M.
He was said to have a shot to see time for Seattle as a reserve defensive back and special teams contributor. While there had been a chance that Siverand might have been able to get a decent amount of playing time this year, the roster move reportedly did not hurt the franchise financially.
He received a $2,000 signing bonus this spring, and that was tied for the third-smallest signing bonus among the 17 undrafted free agents Seattle signed.
