Seahawks release benched CB Cary Williams

Williams was benched midway through the Seahawks’ victory over San Francisco in Week 11, then was a healthy scratch the past two weeks.

With the Rams desperate for help at the cornerback spot, the team is looking at a recently released cornerback for help.

The Seattle Seahawks released cornerback Cary Williams on Monday. Williams has been a complete flop though, so the Seahawks have made a decision to dump him and eat the costs. After starting his pro career with Tennessee and Baltimore during his rookie season, Williams played three years more with the Ravens, prior to signing a free agent deal with Philadelphia.

The Seattle Seahawks have been on a brilliant run the last few years, including winning a Super Bowl and reaching another.

But Williams acknowledged during training camp that he was struggling to learn Seattle’s system and to adjust to the way the Seahawks ask their cornerbacks to play. He was declared inactive for the last two games as Deshawn Shead replaced him in the starting lineup. A full $3.5 million of that was given up front, as a bonus, on top of the portion he’s already earned through the first 13 weeks of the season. Lane was used as the nickel corner Sunday against the Vikings, while Burley operated as the nickel early in the season before suffering a broken thumb Week 4 against Detroit. He’s just one of our guys dyed in the wool of being a Seahawk. The next week, he appeared to be intently studying on his team-issued tablet when the media was allowed in the locker room. “But he’s new to the system and some of the principles”, Carroll said. “So he’ll work really hard at it”. Every drafted cornerback that has panned out for Seattle under its current regime had time to develop before playing regularly on defense whereas free agents are usually brought in to contribute right away.

“It was a short amount of time to try to catch up with all of the real specifics of our technique, but he did a nice job; he progressed with it”, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said.