By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times
The Seattle Seahawks signed 41-year-old veteran offensive tackle Jason Peters to their practice squad Tuesday to add depth to a spot suddenly reeling with injuries.
The team officially announced the signing in the afternoon after Peters’ agency had revealed it earlier in the day via social media.
By signing to the practice squad, Peters can be elevated to the active roster on game day as soon as Sunday at Detroit. Players can be elevated three times off the practice squad to the game day roster. After that, players have to be signed to the 53-man roster to play in a game.
Being on the practice squad to start out gives Seattle some time to assess how Peters will fit into things before making a decision on if/when he will play in games.
Both of Seattle’s starting tackles — Charles Cross on the left and Abraham Lucas on the right — left Sunday’s 30-13 loss to the Rams with injuries. Cross is dealing with what has been reported as turf toe, and Archbishop Murphy High School alum Lucas with a knee issue that coach Pete Carroll on Monday defined as “patella area soreness.” Carroll said tests on Lucas did not reveal a need for surgery at the moment.
“I don’t have much for you to update,” Carroll said. “We’re going to go day-to-day once we get back Wednesday and see where we are. Abe came in the office today (Monday) and he was walking alright, and we’ll hold a good thought. Charles is making it around. But it’s going to take a little bit before we know.”
Carroll had confirmed on Monday the team had talked with Peters, who entered the league in 2004, is a nine-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro pick and is considered a sure future Hall of Famer.
Peters played the bulk of his career with the Eagles — from 2009-20 — anchoring the left tackle spot, including when Philadelphia won the Super Bowl following the 2017 season.
After starting 15 games with the Bears in 2021 he then played 10 games with one start with the Cowboys last year after initially signing with Dallas’ practice squad. He also started Dallas’ wild card playoff win at Tampa Bay before suffering a hip injury that held him out the following week when the Cowboys lost in the divisional round to the 49ers.
Peters has played mostly left tackle in his career but also has some experience on the right side and could be used at either spot with the Seahawks.
“Both tackles left the game,” Carroll noted Monday when asked about the team’s interest in Peters. “We’re a little concerned.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Peters played 139 snaps last year at left tackle for Dallas, with 33 at right tackle, 55 at left guard and eight as a tight end, or sixth offensive lineman.
Peters had decent grades from PFF, with a 70.3 overall and 71.8 run blocking, each considered above average. His pass block grade of 60.5 is considered average.
Lucas came out of Sunday’s game at halftime and was replaced by Jake Curhan. Cross left in the third quarter and was replaced by Stone Forsythe.
While the Seahawks had just 12 yards in the second half, and only three until the final play of the game, Carroll did not place much blame for the offensive issues on Curhan and Forsythe having to play.
“That didn’t really show up as an issue until late, when they really started to crank it after us,” Carroll said. “Stone held up pretty well. Jake got his looks in there, they did OK. There was a couple of rushes at the end of the game that we got rolled back a little bit.”
Forsythe and Curhan each received 65.5 grades from PFF.
Curhan, a third-year player from Cal who made the team in 2021 as an undrafted free agent, started five games at right tackle in 2021 but played only 34 snaps in a reserve role last season after the team drafted Cross (ninth overall out of Mississippi State) and Lucas (third round out of WSU) as the tackles.
Forsythe, a sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Florida, had one start last year, coming Jan. 1 at right tackle against the Jets when Lucas missed the game due to a knee injury.
That was the only game Lucas missed last season, while Cross started all 17.
Lucas also had shoulder surgery in the offseason and was limited throughout the offseason program. He returned for training camp but missed a few days due to the sore knee, which flared up again Sunday.
Seattle had only Lucas, Cross, Curhan and Forsythe as tackles on the roster heading into the week.
Along with signing Peters, Seattle also re-signed Greg Eiland to the practice squad on Monday to add depth.
Eiland, who played at Mississippi State, spent all of the 2021 and 2022 seasons on Seattle’s practice squad but has yet to play in a game. He was released off the practice squad on Aug. 31. He has played both guard and tackle in practice and in training camp, but tackle has been his primary position.
The team released quarterback Holton Ahlers and safety Brady Breeze to make room for Peters and Eiland on the practice squad.
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