Seahawks activate Kam Chancellor to start Sunday vs. Chicago, waive his opener fill-in Dion Bailey

Kam Chancellor is now all the way back, for real.

The Seahawks activated their three-time Pro Bowl strong safety from the exempt list onto the active roster Saturday in time for him to make his season debut in Seattle’s home opener Sunday against Chicago.

The expected move came four days after Chancellor ended his 54-day holdout and reported to the team.

Saturday’s unexpected move was a reminded of the cold business of the NFL: The Seahawks waived Chancellor’s fill-in starter for their opener, Dion Bailey, to make room for Chancellor on the 53-man roster.

Bailey started Sept. 14 at St. Louis as Chancellor’s fill-in. The 2014 rookie practice-squad player fell down outside in one-on-one coverage with St. Louis tight end Lance Kendricks, allowing the Rams to score the tying touchdown in the final minute of regulation. Seattle then lost in overtime.

This week Bailey said Chancellor supported his daily during the veteran’s holdout.

"I called him every day since training camp started, really," Bailey said Wednesday hours after Chancellor returned to the team.

Bailey said Chancellor was so supportive of him holding down his job for him during his holdout that he dialed cell phone to offer encouragement while Bailey was still on the Edward Jones Dome field for the Rams game.

"By the time I got back to my phone in the locker room, he was texting me," Bailey said.

"He told me I played my butt off."

This story was originally published September 26, 2015 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Seahawks activate Kam Chancellor to start Sunday vs. Chicago, waive his opener fill-in Dion Bailey."