Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll and players talked about linebacker Lofa Tatupu no longer being with the team after this afternoon’s practice.

Carroll again referred to the team asking the veteran linebacker for a pay cut, and his response by asking for his release as a “mutual understanding.”

“I’ve known Lofa since he was a young kid when Mosi brought him to SC years and years ago, and I’ve loved him ever since,” Carroll said. “He’s a great kid, a great guy and an unbelievable competitor. And we came to an understanding that this is a good thing, and so on we go. And we keep moving. And so we wish him the very best, and we’ll see where it goes. And we’ll probably wind up knocking heads together soon.”

Carroll said David Hawthorne will take over for Tatupu at middle linebacker, and Leroy Hill will get an opportunity to earn his job back at outside linebacker with Hawthorne moving inside.

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According to Michael Wright of ESPN Chicago, former Seattle Seahawks center Chris Spencer has signed with the Chicago Bears.

Spencer reunites with former Seattle head personnel man Tim Ruskell, now the director of personnel for Chicago. And he replaces one of the tough guys in the league in Olin Kruetz, with the Bears choosing not to bring the UW product back.

A family of athletes

At 6-foot-5, 327 pounds, Arizona State product Paul Fanaika is one of Seattle’s promising young linemen that could find his way onto the final roster in September.

The Seahawks signed Fanaika off of the Cleveland Browns practice squad at the end of last year to the team’s active roster, and he’s been getting some work with the first unit at right guard during training camp.

Fanaika …

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A day after the Seattle Seahawks asked him to take a reduction in pay, veteran linebacker Lofa Tatupu skipped practice to mull over his decision to take the offer or ask for his release.

And the answer appears to be the Tatupu will be moving on, as ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports that the 28-year-old has asked the team for his release, and the Seahawks will reluctantly comply with his request.

UPDATE: A league source confirmed that the Seahawks and Tatupu have mutually agreed to part ways, which means he was granted his release and is now free to negotiate with any team.

But if true, the move brings to a close an impressive, six-year career with the Seahawks for Tatupu, who made the Pro Bowl his first three years in the league, and helped Seattle reached the Super Bowl in the 2005 season.

Tatupu also was the first Seahawks to lead the team in tackle in four consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2008.

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Too bad Hawks’ practice isn’t until this afternoon. Reports from last night that Lofa Tatupu had been asked to restructure his contract and that he had asked for his release were surely unsettling to many fans. Developments will shake out this morning and we’ll see ourselves at practice.

The move was hardly unforeseen, but the results might be, nonetheless, jolting. I have the impression that half the residents of western Washington are in possession of a Tatupu jersey. What was not to like, after all? Here was an undersized guy who became a true leader on this team the minute …

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The Seahawks held a walk-through practice inside the VMAC indoor practice facility.

Seattle worked out for about an hour and a half, with practice mirroring what they usually do the day before a game.

Linebacker Lofa Tatupu did not attend practice because the team has asked him to restructure his contract. Tataupu hasn’t practiced on the field since the team’s first workout on Thursday.

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Here’s some more notes from this morning’s presser with Carroll

* Carroll said that Brandon Mebane will start at nose tackle and new addition Alan Branch will serve as the team’s 3-tech moving forward. Carroll seemed to indicated that once Colin Cole could be out for awhile. Once Cole is healthy, then both he and Mebane will compete for time at that position, with Mebane having the versatility to slide over to 3-tech. But for now, Mebane and Branch are the starters inside.

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Jackson is 6-2 and does not seem undersized at all. He’s got pretty thick arms and chest. He handled himself well in his press conference this morning.

He said Darrell Bevell is a very detail-oriented coach, which should make Jackson a detail-oriented quarterback. He responded well to questions about the quarterback competition. He said it didn’t matter what the situation was … he was going to be competing every day anyway.

One of his most telling statements was that he was a football player more than a quarterback. So … don’t look for him to be sliding to avoid …

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