Bob Condotta
The Seattle Times
As Seattle coach Pete Carroll said he hoped would be the case, the Seahawks appear to be about as healthy as at any time all season heading into Sunday’s game at Detroit.
Seattle on Friday declared only two players as doubtful for Sunday’s game — backup cornerback Neiko Thorpe (groin) and backup offensive lineman Jordan Simmons (calf).
Defensive Rasheem Green was listed as questionable as he comes off a high ankle sprain that has held him out the last three weeks, though he was also a full participant in practice.
But everybody else is considered good to go, including linebacker K.J. Wright and tight end Ed Dickson, neither of whom have played this season.
Both were listed as full participants in Friday’s practice and afterward Carroll said each is ready to play Sunday.
How much each will play, though, Carroll was a bit more vague about. The Seahawks have gotten good weakside linebacker play of late out of Barkevious Mingo in nickel situations and could ease Wright in some if they need. Asked if Wright will be on “a pitch count” Carroll said to “wait and see.”
“He’s in good shape,” Carroll said. “He made it through and we’re excited about him playing.”
As for Dickson, Seattle will have to make a move to get him on the active 53-man roster as he has been on the Non-Football Injury list with a quad injury suffered in offseason conditioning.
Seattle has three other tight ends on the roster in Nick Vannett, Darrell Daniels and Tyrone Swoopes, and Swoopes would seem a logical candidate to be replaced by Dickson. But the Seahawks don’t have to make a move until 24 hours prior to kickoff (10 a.m. Sunday, Seattle time) and Carroll wasn’t tipping his hand Friday.
“We’re going to be careful,” Carroll said of Dickson. “He has worked really hard to get back, much more so than a regular guy coming off a rehab, because he’s had time to do that, so he’s ahead of what most guys would be conditioning wise. So we’ll just kind of monitor it as we go—we’ve got kind of a thought in mind—but we’re looking for him to be involved, so we’ll just see how he handles it during the game.”
As for Green, a third-round pick in 2018 out of USC, Carroll said: “He did well. We’re going to take him all the way to game time, just got to make sure he’s ready to go. But he’s close enough that he should really be in consideration to play.”
Carroll said Thorpe was injured in practice Thursday and that he didn’t know the severity of the injury. But after initially being listed as out for the game Thorpe was upgraded to doubtful, seeming to indicate the injury isn’t too serious. Thorpe is one of Seattle’s core special teams players with 126 special teams snaps, second most on the team.
Detroit is also pretty healthy. The only player ruled out is backup running back Theo Riddick (knee). The other one to watch is defensive end Ziggy Ansah, one of the team’s top pass rushers who has missed the past five games with a shoulder injury. He was listed as questionable.
SEAHAWKS STILL WAITING ON KENDRICKS
Carroll also said the Seahawks are still waiting for more clarity on the future of linebacker Mychal Kendricks, who was indefinitely suspended by the NFL on Oct. 2. Kendricks had a meeting with the league this week and Carroll said the team has been told there could be more definitive word on the length of the suspension next week.
“The league is still working on where they’re going with it,” Carroll said. “I’m hopeful … maybe we hear something early next week, that they have some kind of a decision coming out of next week, but that’s kind of hopeful on my part. They haven’t guaranteed us that at all. They have gone through the process, and they’ve come out of it with the direction that they’ve got to come up with where this fits, and they’re trying to measure what to do next. It should happen fairly soon coming out of this weekend.”
Kendricks was suspended for pleading guilty to a felony insider trading charge. He is due to be sentenced in January and could face 30-37 months in prison.
Kendricks can not be with the team and is not being paid while being suspended.
Carroll said one reason he is hoping for clarity is so that Kendricks knows if there is a chance whether he can play again this season.
“I’ve just been in support of him and tried to stay abreast of it,” Carroll said. “Really what I’m concerned about is Mychal and trying to keep him attuned to what’s going on. It’s a very difficult situation to be kind of in limbo. He’s got some big stuff coming up in January, but this is different. This is a different set of circumstances, and he’s working with the league and hoping that he can get a sense for where he fits so he can get his mind right and all that so I’ve just been trying to get information to help (Kendricks) kind of make sense of all of this.”
Kendricks played in three games for the Seahawks at weakside linebacker in place of Wright. He remains Seattle’s property while suspended, signing a one-year contract on Sept 13.
SEAHAWKS ANNOUNCE PATCH HONORING ALLEN
Sunday will mark Seattle’s first game since the passing of owner Paul Allen.
Friday, the team announced via a tweet from Bert Kolde, one of the team’s Board of Directors, that players will wear a jersey patch with a 12 flag and Allen’s initials of PGA for the rest of the season.
