Seahawks Injuries: Greg Olsen may play just a month after rupturing his plantar fascia

The Seahawks were hopeful that veteran Greg Olsen could return before the end of the season from a ruptured plantar fascia that he suffered last month.

It seems Olsen is proving they were right to feel that way.

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Olsen, who has recovered from the same injury on his other foot in recent years, was designated to return to practice from injured reserve Wednesday and could play Sunday against the Washington Football Team, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said during a press conference Wednesday.

“He’s made an extraordinary recovery to get to this right now so we’re going to practice during the week and see what happens, see how he does,” Carroll said.

When asked about Olsen potentially playing Sunday, Carroll said “it’s possible.”

The 35-year-old Olsen is in his first season with Seattle. In 10 games, he has 23 receptions on 35 targets for 224 yards and a touchdown. He’s missed four games since he had to leave the Seahawks’ Thursday Night Football matchup against Arizona on Nov. 19 due to the plantar fascia injury, which in many cases can take two months or more to recover from.

Olsen ranks 79th in NFL history and fifth all-time among tight ends with 8,668 receiving yards, most of those coming in nine seasons with Carolina, which followed a four-year stint in Chicago to begin his career.

He could be gearing up for one last playoff run as a player. Already well regarded as a football analyst, he has an agreement to join FOX as a color commentator after he retires from playing.

Here are a few more personnel updates Carroll provided Wednesday.

• Right tackle Brandon Shell, who returned after missing two games to play against the Jets only to leave that game due to the re-injuring his ankle, is once again uncertain to play this week.

“We’ll have to wait until the end of the week to see how he develops. Can’t call it now,” Carroll said, adding that Shell wouldn’t practice Wednesday.

• Carroll shared some comments on how workouts have been going for wide receiver Josh Gordon, who was reinstated from suspension earlier this month and will be eligible to return next week.

“Josh’s workouts are going great and he’s really fit. He feels really good, he feels like he’s ready to jump on a practice field,” Carroll said. “He’ll have all of this week and then he’ll be available to us next week. This is a really important week for him to finish it up. He needs to be at game speed and game tempo, conditioning and all of that. It’s a lot to ask but that’s what we’re asking. He’s working like crazy and ever since we had a chance we’ve really stepped it up for him to make sure he’s challenged by that.”

• Rookie defensive end Darrell Taylor, who has missed the entire season recovering from knee surgery, is “running out of time” to play in 2020.

“Next week is really the last shot for us to get a chance and he’ll have to jump out then,” Carroll said of the second-round pick. “The treatment that he went through does kind of culminate this week; we’ll see what that means. I don’t mean to give you any hope at this point other than we just gotta wait and see. It’s not too late. Fortunately we might have some more games to play (in the playoffs)… and we’d love to have him available.”

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