Seahawks’ Heath Farwell likely to require surgery

RENTON – The Seahawks won Friday night’s game against Chicago, but likely lost special-teams captain Heath Farwell in the process.

The veteran linebacker was injured in the second half during pass coverage, suffering an injury to his groin muscle that is likely going to require surgery.

“He probably has to have surgery on his groin,” coach Pete Carroll said. “That’s a very, very difficult situation for him. He had extensive damage. Everything points to surgery.”

Farwell was present at Monday’s practice but did not participate. He is expected to travel east later this week for further evaluation.

The injury came at a time when Farwell was playing for a spot on the roster. Farwell was acquired by the Seahawks five weeks into the 2011 season and became a main cog in Seattle’s special-teams units. He was also a part of Seattle’s goal-line defense last season, but the selection of Kevin Pierre-Louis in the fourth round of the draft and emergence of undrafted rookie Brock Coyle made linebacker one of the most competitive spots on the roster.

While Carroll didn’t indicate Farwell’s surgery will necessarily be season-ending, it seems unlikely the Seahawks would save space for him on their opening-day roster.

Notes

• LB Bobby Wagner returned to practice Monday after missing the past three weeks with a strained hamstring. He said he hopes to play in Thursday’s exhibition finale at Oakland.

• TE Cooper Helfet suffered several injuries in Friday’s exhibition loss, the most worrisome of which is to his knee. The injury was not as bad as initially feared, Carroll indicated, though Helfet did not practice Monday.

• WR Kevin Norwood (foot) and LB Bruce Irvin (hip) are not expected to practice this week, but could have a chance next week.