Seahawks even have competion at long snapper; sign Nolan Frese, release LB Khairi Fortt

Pete Carroll’s mantra of “Always Compete” even applies to kick snappers.

The Seahawks added a second long snapper on Tuesday by signing long snapper Nolan Frese. The undrafted rookie from the University of Houston is now on track to compete against Drew Ferris in training camp that begins July 30 for the job of replacing Clint Gresham.

Seattle released Gresham, its kick snapper since 2010, in March one season into a three-year, $2.7 million contract.

Frese is the third snapper the Seahawks have signed for punts and placekicks since January.

Ferris, from the University of Florida, spent last spring in a New York Jets rookie minicamp. He signed in March and had been Seattle’s lone snapper on kicks in spring minicamps and organized team activities. He showed great velocity on field-goal snaps, but skipped a few back in the final minicamp this month.

"He’s battling at it. He’s done a nice job. He’s got a lot to learn,” Carroll said June 16. “He’s a really, really good snapper. He’s got tremendous velocity on his snaps. He’s got to learn all the schemes and the blocking stuff and all that, too."

Now he will be learning a new competition, with Frese.

To make room on its offseason roster, the Seahawks released linebacker Khairi Fortt six weeks after they signed the former fourth-round pick by New Orleans.

This story was originally published June 28, 2016 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Seahawks even have competion at long snapper; sign Nolan Frese, release LB Khairi Fortt."