Navy’s Keenan Reynolds promoted to Seattle Seahawks active roster

Navy football fans: Submit your fantasy football waiver claims and adjust your rosters accordingly.

On Monday night, when the Seattle Seahawks take on the Chicago Bears, a Midshipmen will be suiting up for Seattle and lining up at wide receiver.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll announced Tuesday that Keenan Reynolds, the former master of the triple option, has been promoted to Seattle’s active 53-man roster ahead of its Monday night clash with the Bears.

Reynolds’ promotion comes after it was reported that Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin suffered a grade-two partial MCL tear. To make room for Reynolds, the Seahawks waived safety Shalom Luani.

When Reynolds appears in Monday’s game, it will mark a big step in his long road to becoming a professional football player.

He was an all-time great player at Navy and expertly orchestrated Ken Niumatalolo and Ivin Jasper’s triple option system with flair, finesse and power. With Reynolds at the helm, Navy won 36 games, including four wins against Army, three wins against Air Force and victories in three bowl games.

Reynolds No. 19 jersey was retired by the Midshipmen following a career where he scampered for an NCAA Division I record 88 career touchdowns and also rushed for an FBS quarterback record 4,559 yards. In his senior season, he was the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing fifth in voting.

Listed 5-foot-10 and 191 pounds, NFL scouts figured he would fare better in the pro game as a slot receiver. He wound up being a drafted in the sixth round of the 2016 draft by the Baltimore Ravens, but was cut before the regular season began and spent the season on Baltimore’s practice squad. He was promoted to the active roster for the Ravens’ final game of the 2016 season, but was then left inactive on game day.

In 2017, Reynolds signed with the Washington Redskins, but was again relegated to the practice squad. This season, he signed with the Seahawks. In the preseason, Reynolds reeled in four catches for 35 yards and rushed once for five yards.

His legacy at Navy also includes him being one of the last recipients of a short-lived waiver from the Department of Defense which allowed “elite-athlete” graduates of Service Academies to defer active-duty time and go into the Ready Reserve, so they could pursue a career in professional sports. New England Patriots long snapper Joe Cardona was also granted this waiver. Former Air Force wide receiver Jalen Robinette wasn’t so lucky. He was projected to be a mid-round draft pick in 2017, but current U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded the waiver policy.

A native of Antioch, Tennessee, Reynolds is now a 23-year-old Lieutenant Junior Grade and cryptic warfare officer. It’s unclear how long Baldwin will be out, so Reynolds could get a handful of games to carve out a niche with the Seahawks and prove that he belongs in the NFL.