Former Chiefs defensive end Nate Orchard signs with Seattle Seahawks

Former Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Nate Orchard has found a new team after signing a one-year deal with the Seattle Seahawks.

Nate Orchard hopes that his brand new home will last a bit longer than his last couple attempts to find meaningful work in the National Football League. His latest stop is with the Seattle Seahawks, after landing a one-year reported deal on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson.

Orchard is a former second round pick by the Cleveland Browns in the 2015 NFL Draft. He was taken high after starring at the University of Utah, where he had a jaw-dropping 18.5 sacks his final season.

Orchard unfortunately only lasted a few seasons in Cleveland, where he was released in 2018 after failing to live up to his draft billing. Orchard had 3 sacks during his rookie campaign in 11 starts. He would only start two games over the next two seasons before Cleveland decided to cut its losses and move on.

In 2018. the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs both took flyers on Orchard in separate stints but nothing substantive surfaced from those efforts. Orchard played in a single game for the Chiefs after signing in mid-October, but he was released just four weeks later and remained a free agent for the duration of the season. Now the Seahawks hope to unlock whatever potential is there in Orchard, but at this point, the bet is a longshot.

Orchard has 69 total tackles in 38 career NFL games, including 5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits, 2 forced fumbles and 1 fumble recovery. The good news is that Orchard is still only 26 years old, so perhaps Pete Carroll can make something work as the Seahawks did with other examples like former Miami Dolphins draft bust Dion Jordan.