What is going on with Richard Sherman and the Seattle Seahawks?

Rarely do NFL players break personnel news on social media, but that happened on Wednesday as a pair of Seattle Seahawks players alluded to a high-profile departure for that team.

Cornerback Jeremy Lane sent shockwaves through NFL Twitter this afternoon with the following tweet, which references #25, Richard Sherman’s number:

Shortly thereafter, safety Kam Chancellor waded into the fray on Instagram, adding to the impression that something is going on with Sherman:

Finally, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport started to dig around the situation and found that Sherman has been informing his Seahawks teammates that he “won’t be on the team” in 2018. Tom Pelissero also reports that there is a meeting scheduled between Sherman and top Seahawks brass to “discuss his future.”

Running contrary to these reports, however, is this report from ESPN’s Josina Anderson:

Sherman has often been coy with the media, however, and take every single report here with a grain of salt.

If Sherman is on his way out, though, what form would that take? Sherman could be traded at the start of the league year or released outright before that date comes up on March 14th. He also could elect to retire, particularly since he dealt with a ruptured Achilles tendon last season and missed the second half of the year.

Sherman only has one year remaining on his contract, making any option viable for the Seahawks and GM John Schneider. When Sherman does come off the Seahawks’ books, he would free up $11 million in salary cap space. Seattle is estimated to have about $13 million in cap space at present, so moving Sherman would essentially double that and give them significantly more financial flexibility for 2018.

Stay tuned for more updates on Sherman’s status.