Seahawks injury and personnel updates: Drew Nowak back on practice squad
Dec 2, 2015, 3:13 PM | Updated: 4:00 pm
(AP)
RENTON – A few Seahawks injury and personnel updates from coach Pete Carroll’s Wednesday press conference:
• Carroll spoke before the team announced that it had signed center Drew Nowak to its practice squad. Nowak was waived Tuesday and went unclaimed, clearing the way for his return. Carroll said earlier that was the Seahawks’ hope. He explained that the decision to waive Nowak on Tuesday was a matter of limited roster space more than anything. Nowak was one of three centers on Seattle’s roster along with promoted starter Patrick Lewis and Lemuel Jeanpierre, who can also play guard. That Nowak could only play center made it difficult to justify a spot on the game-day roster, which teams must trim from 53 to 46 by de-activating seven players. Nowak had been inactive the last three games once Lewis re-assumed the starting job when he returned from his injury. Jeanpierre was the backup. “We’re activating seven linemen basically every week, so we’ve got to have flexibility in the backup guys,” Carroll said. “We still think (Nowak) has a chance to play for us and hopefully we’ll get him back eventually.” Seattle released wide receiver Douglas McNeil from its practice squad to make room for Nowak.
• Tight end Jimmy Graham was scheduled to have surgery at some point Wednesday to repair the patellar tendon in his right knee, which he tore Sunday. That injury will sideline him for the remainder of the season, but Carroll reiterated that Graham should be available for the start of next season. As previously noted, the long end of the typical timetable for recovery from a torn patellar tendon is nine months. In Graham’s case, that would be late-August.
• Carroll said the Seahawks had an eye on tight end Chase Coffman for a while in case a need at that position arose. Seattle signed Coffman on Tuesday, a day after placing Graham on injured reserve. Carroll noted Coffman’s height (6-feet-6), called him a good catcher and said he “has been a guy that we think could fit with the stuff that we need him to do.”
• Carroll was again brief when asked about benched cornerback Cary Williams, this time in response to a question about whether or not he’ll back on the game-day roster after being a healthy scratch Sunday. “You’ll have to wait and see,” Carroll said. Asked the de-activation impacted Williams, Carroll said: “I think the challenge of just being a competitor, I think he wants to get back in there, I think he wants to do his thing. So I think it’s east to understand that.”
• Defensive tackle Demarcus Dobbs and fullback Will Tukuafu are making progress after sustaining concussions Sunday. “They’re not ruled out yet, so we’ll see how that goes,” Carroll said. “Both guys have had good results from the testing that they’ve gone through.”
• Cornerback Jeremy Lane is still sore after playing Sunday for the first time since the Super Bowl, but Carroll reiterated that he’ll be fine.
• Running back Marshawn Lynch has not returned to Seattle since undergoing abdominal surgery in Philadelphia last week. Carroll previously indicated that Lynch would remain there for several days as he started his rehab.