What would a Seahawks defense look like without Richard Sherman?

Richard Sherman may miss his first game as a member of the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday when Seattle kicks off its home opener against the San Francisco 49ers.

Sherman has started every game of his six-year career with Seattle. He was listed on Seattle’s injury report Wednesday and Thursday with a hamstring, though, and coach Pete Carroll and defensive coordinator Kris Richard kept their comments vague regarding the All Pro cornerback’s status earlier this week. Sherman was listed as questionable on Friday’s final injury report, and Carroll said he practiced fully.

“We’ll see whether or not he’s going to be available,” Richard said. “I know he’s preparing as if he is and he will be available, so I think it’ll be coach’s decision.”

“It’s going to be interesting at the end of the week,” Carroll said of this week’s injured players, who he did not name in an interview Friday. “We’ll see what happens.”

710 ESPN Seattle’s Mike Salk doesn’t know what to make of the news and finds the situation (and the vagueness surrounding it) odd. Dave Wyman, too, is worried about the circumstances but said it could just as easily be nothing.

“That whole thing is very, very weird to me, what’s going on there,” Wyman said. “This is kind of weird, but I think we’re trying to read things – Danny (O’Neil) and I were talking about this yesterday — kind of connecting the dots and maybe thinking too much.

What will get him out there on the field, and we talk about all this money and everything like that, is pride. There’s a tremendous amount of pride in the NFL. He takes a lot of pride in never missing a game, he takes a lot pride in his tackling. That’s present, I think, in any era.”

Regardless, Seattle’s defense will certainly look different with Sherman out. Wyman and Salk talk about Sherman’s tackling and what Justin Coleman and rookie cornerback Shaq Griffin can bring to the table. Listen here.