Seahawks Pick Up Ex-Cowboys WR George Farmer, Move Him to DB

Shortly after the draft, the Dallas Cowboys shelled out $55,000 guaranteed for former USC wide receiver George Farmer, a pretty unheard of sum for an undrafted free agent. The marriage didn’t last, of course. Farmer was waived by the team a little over a week ago, but he already has a new team.

Farmer signed with the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, reuniting him with Pete Carroll, the man who recruited him to USC. But in an interesting twist, they didn’t sign him as a receiver--they’re looking to turn him into a defensive back.

“George was a tremendous athlete (in high school), a great track runner from a great school that featured track guys,” Carroll told the Seahawks’ website. “So we’re playing him on defense, we want to see what he looks like. It didn’t work out for him offensively. He had a good day (Monday), he made a couple plays for us so we’ll see what happens.”

Farmer said he hadn’t been approached about moving to defense until he visited Seattle after his release from Dallas.

“I’ve thought about it before this, but they brought it up to me and I thought, why not give it a shot?” Farmer said.

The Seahawks have had some success with moving players around before. Their starting right guard, J.R. Sweezy, was a defensive end in college before being taken by the Seahawks in the seventh round in 2012 with the notion that he could be a fine offensive lineman.