In what has to be the most unusual situation this year as far as a player signing goes for the Seattle Seahawks, wide receiver Sidney Rice visited the New York Jets on Wednesday, but later signed a one-year deal to return to Seattle.
Terms haven’t been announced, but the Seahawks obviously wanted Rice back bad enough to outbid the Jets.
Rice sent out this tweet Wednesday night:
It appeared the Seahawks' chances of re-signing Rice were in jeopardy when he visited the Jets. But apparently Rice already had an offer from Seattle and simply was testing the waters.
Rice had a connection in the Jets organization with general manager John Idzik, who spent six years in Seattle as the vice president of football operations before taking the GM job with the Jets in January 2013.
But Seattle was able to work out a deal for Rice to return for 2014. He was released by the Seahawks on Feb. 28 for salary-cap reasons; he would have counted $7.3 million against the cap.
Rice missed the second half of the 2013 season after tearing an ACL in a game at St. Louis, but was given clearance by his doctor to begin running and cutting drills on Monday.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has said all along they were interested in bringing Rice back if the price was right. By re-signing the 6-foot-4 Rice, it could mean the Seahawks go in another direction with their early picks in the NFL draft next month -- possibly selecting an offensive lineman or defensive end.
Seattle brought in Indiana receiver Cody Latimer on Tuesday. Latimer has zoomed up the draft boards in the recent weeks and is seen as a late first-round or early second-round pick.
Rice, 27, caught 15 passes and scored three touchdowns before his injury last season. He caught 50 passes for 748 yards and seven touchdowns in 2012.
