BRADY HENDERSON

Thomas Rawls could play in Seahawks’ preseason finale

Aug 31, 2016, 12:08 PM | Updated: 1:08 pm

RENTON – Seahawks coach Pete Carroll reiterated Wednesday that there’s “no question” running back Thomas Rawls is on track to play in Seattle’s regular-season opener after another strong week of practice.

But there is a question as to whether or not Rawls will play in the Seahawks’ preseason finale Thursday night in Oakland, which would be his first game action since breaking his ankle in Week 15 of last season. Carroll played it coy when asked if Rawls will play, saying only: “I guess you’re going to have to wait and find out.”

There are a few reasons to believe Rawls will play Thursday night.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider said two weeks ago that the team was hoping to get him some carries by the final preseason game, which would make sense as that would be his last chance to knock off any rust before the opener.

Rawls has been taking part in team drills for more than two weeks and has also gone through warmups in full pads before the last two preseason games, looking like everyone else on the field in terms of his readiness to play.

And Carroll was straightforward last week in saying that Rawls would not play in Seattle’s third preseason game, so it could be telling that he didn’t rule Rawls out this time.

But as Carroll said, we’ll find out Thursday night.

Here are some more personnel notes:

• Carroll seemed encouraged by the way tight end Jimmy Graham has continued to progress as he comes back from his knee injury, but his comments also indicated that Graham’s status for Week 1 is still up in the air: “Jimmy’s been practicing full-go and we’re thrilled about it. He is, too. He’s had a lot of fun being back out with fellas and all. He had a full week of practice and he’ll have another full week of practice. It’s really a day-to-day thing to see how he recovers, but he’s doing great. We’ll see what that means. We won’t know until late next week.”

• Defensive lineman Michael Bennett has been away from the team this week while getting treatment on the injured toe that he has been dealing with for years. Carroll said it’s the same treatment that Bennett has had before – only now he’s getting it done in California as opposed to the East Coast – and that “everything’s right on schedule.”

• Carroll said rookie defensive tackle Jarran Reed has a chance to play in Seattle’s opener, having returned to practice this week from the toe injury he sustained in the second preseason game. It’s not looking as good for rookie tight end Nick Vannett, who sprained his ankle in that same game. Carroll said the Seahawks are preparing as though he’ll be out at least another week.

• Carroll singled out rookie running backs C.J. Prosise and Alex Collins as two players who will get a significant amount of playing time Thursday. He said Prosise needs it after missing as much time as he did with injuries earlier in the offseason and in training camp.

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