Clayton: Seahawks and 49ers will have to get creative due to injury pileup

Sunday’s vital NFC West game between the Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers is starting to look like the television series “Survivor.”

Seahawks rule Shaquill Griffin out as secondary, running backs beat up

Both teams won’t know until 90 minutes before kickoff which players will have an ability to play. On Thursday, nine Seahawks missed practice. On Friday, Pete Carroll ruled out cornerback Shaquill Griffin and listed halfback Carlos Hyde, right guard Mike Iupati and cornerback Ugo Amadi as questionable. It will be game-time decisions for Chris Carson and Jamal Adams. That’s two of the top three cornerbacks and the Seahawks may have to survive with Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas as their only running backs.

Of course, the Seahawks can’t complain when they look at what the 49ers have been through. By my count, the 49ers lead the league in missed starts. Eight weeks into the season, the 49ers currently have 61 missed starts, six more than the Philadelphia Eagles and seven more than the Dallas Cowboys. When I count starts, I don’t include the backup who starts for the injured starter if he’s out. As of Friday afternoon, the 49ers have 16 players on the injured reserve. That could change Saturday if they bring back halfback Tevin Coleman and cornerback K’Waun Williams.

But this list is brutal. On offense, they have wide receiver Jalen Hurd, tight end Jordan Reed, guard Ben Garland, halfback Raheem Mostert and center Weston Richburg on the injured reserve list. On defense, they have defensive linemen Nick Bosa, Solomon Thomas, defensive tackle Ronald Blair, defensive end Dee Ford, defensive tackle Ziggy Ansah, defensive tackle Julian Taylor, K’Wuan Williams and cornerback Richard Sherman. Last week, the 49ers lost wide receiver Deebo Samuel with a hamstring as well as running back Jeff Wilson.

Like the Seahawks, the 49ers are thin in the backfield. At halfback, all they have is Jerrick McKinnon and undrafted rookie JaMycal Hasty. They have a couple backs on the practice squad who might be called up. At receiver, they won’t have Samuel and Richie James. That means they have to rely on first-round pick Brandon Aiyuk, Kendrick Bourne and Trent Taylor. The fourth option is former Washington Husky Dante Pettis, but he’s been so disappointing that the 49ers have been trying to trade him.

This should be an interesting roster scramble Saturday as both teams figure out who is going to play and who isn’t. Earlier in the week, Carroll said the Seahawks might have to get creative to get a ground game. Kyle Shanahan is always creating and somehow finds a way to get the running game going no matter who is available. He and his father, Mike Shanahan, have decades of success with running offenses.

What will be interesting Sunday is to see what the Seahawks can add to the defense.

It sure looks as though Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison will come off the practice squad and go into the defensive tackle rotation. He will be much needed in trying to stop the run. A sleeper to look at is cornerback D.J. Reed. He might be one of the most interesting stories of this game if he comes off NFI list. The 49ers waived him due to injuries to save up a roster space during training camp knowing he wouldn’t be able to play until October. The Seahawks front office had been looking at him for some time and jumped on the chance of adding him.

He’s a good coverage cornerback and could be a returner. It’s not out of the question he could get in the three-cornerback mix with Griffin and Amadi being out.

The 49ers-Seahawks is what the NFL is like this year. It’s Survivor. By my count, there have been 833 missed starts as of Friday after looking at the injury report. That’s 24.2% more than last year in eight weeks and 18.3 percent higher than any other year since 2015. It’s not easy.

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