Not a lot of news out of Seahawks headquarters, which on Fridays in the NFL tends to be good news.
The Seahawks only have three, possibly four players unavailable because of injuries, and none are starters.
Cornerback Tharold Simon is still recovering from knee surgery, and while linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis and running back Christine Michael are both doing rehab work on hamstring injuries, they aren’t ready to go.
“It’s still in rehab, they’re not working with the team yet, so next week will be their first chance to do that,” Carroll said.
One player who is back from injury is rookie receiver Kevin Norwood, who had surgery during training camp to remove bone spurs from his foot.
Carroll wouldn’t say for sure the Norwood will be active and play Sunday, but said “Kevin’s great shape now, he looks very good. He’s really competing to get on the game-day roster. He just looks really good doing everything. We have no hesitation to put him in there if we can get that done.”
On evaluating the fourth-round pick despite not seeing much of him in training camp and the preseason, Carroll said, “He’s such a natural football player, so we felt like we understood his ability physically and also his ability to learn really early. Right away we just a had a real sense for him. Things come to him very easily, he’s got a lot of flexibility in where he can play and what he can do. He blocks well, he can play in the slot, play outside, so we kind of felt pretty confident with that right off the bat within the first few days we were out there. He’s got a very versatile package that he’s bringing to us, so we’re really happy about that.”
While Cooper Helfet is listed as doubtful with a knee injury, Carroll said the tight end could be available: “He practiced the last couple of days and did a nice job. He’s eligible to be up physically, so we’ll see what happens on game day.”
Even if he’s healthy, Helfet very well could be inactive because he’s Seattle third tight end, and the Seahawks have two tackles, Alvin Bailey and Garry Gilliam, who they can use as extra blockers when needed.
On newly-signed cornerback Josh Thomas, Carroll said he would only be used in an emergency situation.
“He’s kind of in emergency status that he could play, but that’s all we could possibly get done in a week’s time,” Carroll said. “He is ready to play if we need him, but he needs work with us. Our style of play and the things we ask of him are different that what he did before, so he’s got a lot of ground to make up. He picked up things and looked good in practice, but it’s hard to really hold him responsible for everything in the short time he’s been there.”
Cornerback Marcus Burley, however, is ready to take on a big role just two weeks after coming to Seattle in a trade.
“He’s doing well,” Carroll said. “He’s a fun player, exciting guy, he’s really quick, very aggressive kid. He’s jumped in and had a couple of weeks—we feel a little better about him—he’s really tuned into the nickel spot, and could play outside for us if we needed him. He’s got a couple of jobs to do on special teams too, so he’s fitting in very well.”
One thing worth watching this week and likely for a few weeks is how the Seahawks rotate defensive linemen, especially when they’re in their nickel package. While Bruce Irvin, Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett have pretty established roles in the nickel defense, the fourth spot (think Clint McDonald last season) is still up for grabs. Carroll said Jordan Hill is going to be involved in the competition for that spot, as is rookie Cassius Marsh and perhaps others.
“We’re just going to take in all the information, we’ve got to just wait and figure it out,” Carroll said. “Jordan’s going to go first and get a good look at it. I’d like to see Cassius get some shots in there too, and we’ve got the big guys to put in there when we want to change it up. In the nickel packages, you’ll see different guys play. On third down, Jordan will go first. He did a nice job last week, so we’re really encouraged by that, hoping he can really take that role, but it’s still competitive. I would think it’ll be another two, three weeks, maybe even longer than that before we really know if we’re going to zero in with one guy in particular. We’re going to keep rotating them right now.”
And here are the official injury reports:
SEAHAWKS
Out: RB Christine Michael (hamstring), CB Tharold Simon (knee), LB Kevin Pierre-Louis (hamstring).
Doubtful: TE Cooper Helfet (knee).
CHARGERS
Out: S Jahleel Addae (hamstring), CB Chris Davis (ankle).
Questionable: LB Melvin Ingram (hamstring), CB Brandon Flowers (groin).
Probable: WR Keenan Allen (ribs), DT Sean Lissemore (ankle), TE Antonio Gates (hamstring), T DJ Fluker (knee/ankle), DE Corey Liuget (ankle).
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