The Seahawks opened training camp amidst a whole lot of hype and heightened expectations, but Thursday’s practice also came with a bit of a buzz-kill.
Receiver Percy Harvin, one of Seattle’s biggest offseason additions, did not practice and opened camp on the Physically Unable to Perform list because of a hip injury. Now, being on the PUP list isn’t necessarily serious news this kind of year. Theoretically someone who opens camp on the PUP list can practice the very next day—the designation protects teams should they want to open the season with that player on the PUP list to save a roster spot—but Pete Carroll’s update on Harvin, while not definitive, left open the possibility that this could be something serious.
“Percy’s got a hip issue that we’re dealing with,” Carroll said. “It came up here through his workouts over the summer, and we’re trying to figure it out. We’re going to do everything we can to make the right decision to help him and take care of him in every week. He was working out just a week or so ago, going full speed, but it was bothering him enough that we took some looks at it, and we’re going to try to figure out the right procedures to take care of him and get him back on the field.”
Asked if it was a labrum issue, which had been reported by Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Carroll said, “It’s in that area, yeah. We’re going to take a really good look at it, get second opinions and all of that kind of stuff to do the right thing. It’s really early in camp, we’ve got plenty of time to get this thing worked out, so we’ll do it very carefully.”
When Carroll was asked if surgery might be required, he answered, “It may be. We’ll find out. We’re just going to go ahead and do it step by step right now. I know he was working full speed just a few days ago, but we need to take care of him, so we’ll take every precaution to do that.”
And when asked his level of concern, Carroll said it was too early to know: “Right now we need to get more information. We don’t know enough right now. We’ll just wait and see. The good part is it’s really early. We’ve got a long time to get him ready. With the number of guys we have on PUP, we’re trying to be very careful and make sure we bring Zach and Clem and all those guys back in good order; not to rush it at this point. We’re just trying to be really diligent about the process right now.”
Also on the PUP list to start camp were TE Zach Miller (foot), CB Tharold Simon (foot), DE Chris Clemons (knee), RB Robert Turbin (foot), and DE Greg Scruggs (knee). Additionally, LB Korey Toomer was placed on the non-football injury list with a knee injury.
Carroll said Clemons is recovering well from the ACL tear he suffered in the playoffs, but that the defensive end isn’t quite ready to go full speed yet. The team’s stance on Clemons all along is that they hope he can be ready for the start of the season, but that they won’t rush him back.
On Miller, Carroll said it is the same foot issue that popped up on the final day of workouts last month. Carroll did not believe that this injury is related to the plantar fascia issue Miller battled through in the playoffs.
“It isn’t related to last year’s I don’t think,” Carroll said. “It popped up the last day of OTAs, and we’re just making sure we can see where he is.”
On Turbin, Carroll said, “He’s got a sore foot. Something we’ve been monitoring for some time now… He feels fine, doesn’t feel it at all, but again, we’re just taking every precaution at this early time.”
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