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Making sense of the Seahawks' decision to waive J'Marcus Webb

For the second week in a row, the Seattle Seahawks have waived one of their veteran offensive players.

Last week, it was running back Christine Michael. This Tuesday, it was offensive lineman J'Marcus Webb.

The Seahawks signed Webb to a two-year, $5.75 million deal in the offseason. The contract included $2.45 million in guaranteed money. Webb began the spring as the first-team right tackle, but he couldn't hold onto the job.

When first-round pick Germain Ifedi suffered an ankle injury before the opener, Webb stepped in and started three games at right guard. Once Ifedi got healthy, Webb served a backup role.

In Week 11, though, he was inactive. Starting left tackle George Fant suffered a shoulder injury during the game, and rookie Rees Odhiambo filled in for 10 snaps and played well.

What Webb had going for him was experience and versatility. The Seahawks paid him a signing bonus of $1.2 million, and they're still on the hook for the remaining part of his $1.25 million base salary ($468,750). Webb's deal included a roster bonus of $31,250 per game, so the Seahawks no longer have to pay that ($187,500) for the final six games.

And clearly they had no plans of bringing Webb back on the second year of his deal.

As Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times pointed out, this is the second year in a row that the Seahawks' highest-paid outside free agent didn't last the year. Seattle cut cornerback Cary Williams before last season was over.

Because the deadline has passed, the Webb signing will still count against the Seahawks when compensatory picks are calculated.

Seattle now has eight offensive linemen on the 53-man roster, four of whom are rookies. The starters from left to right are: Fant, Mark Glowinski, Justin Britt, Germain Ifedi and Garry Gilliam.

The backups are center Joey Hunt, Odhiambo and swing tackle Bradley Sowell.

The Seahawks have not yet officially replaced Webb with another player, so they have one open roster spot.