Seahawks Notebook: Quinton Dunbar’s season over, update on Josh Gordon
Dec 23, 2020, 2:38 PM
Quinton Dunbar won't be returning for the Seahawks this season. (Getty)
(Getty)
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll’s press conference on Wednesday did not feature the same optimistic outlook regarding potentially returning players as the one he held two days prior.
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Carroll confirmed that wide receiver Josh Gordon will not be returning from suspension for Sunday’s game against the Rams, news that was first reported Tuesday, but he also had an unfortunate update on cornerback Quinton Dunbar, who will undergo season-ending knee surgery rather than be activated from injured reserve.
“He’s going to get his knee fixed. Just couldn’t make the turn,” Carroll said about Dunbar, who was bothered throughout the year by his knee and hasn’t played since Week 9 as a result. “He tried really hard the last couple weeks and he just can’t get over the hump on it and so he’s going to get that taken care of eventually. Soon, I think.”
That at least makes it a bit easier for Seattle to figure out its cornerback situation for Sunday. Carroll had said Monday that Dunbar and Tre Flowers would compete in practice to return for this week’s game against the Rams. The Seahawks have been starting D.J. Reed opposite Shaquill Griffin in their place and have been very pleased with the results.
Flowers (hamstring) was designated to return from IR on Wednesday and Carroll said he was set to practice in the afternoon.
“He’ll be a little bit limited in his numbers but he’s coming back to play so we’re really excited he has the chance to return to us.”
As for Gordon, Carroll stated that he isn’t allowed to comment on Gordon’s situation but did shed some light on it.
“We’re not able to comment about any of it really other than to say he’s still coming in, working out with our trainers, getting his work done conditioning-wise and we’ll revisit it again next week,” he said. “Certainly disappointed not to have him for his sake and for a lot of things but we’ll stay with it and we’ll see what happens next week.”
Carroll added that Gordon will remain on Seattle’s roster and said Gordon himself is “very frustrated that he’s not out there.”
Here are some more personnel notes Carroll provided Wednesday.
• Defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who played in a limited role in the Week 15 win over Washington, is entering the week of practice going at 100%. He missed Week 14 with a foot injury that has lingered for the past month.
• Seattle will wait a few days before seeing if right tackle Brandon Shell is a candidate to return from an ankle injury.
“We’re going to monitor Brandon until later in the week with the hopes that he can get back out on the field by Friday and show us some stuff and see if he can compete to play.”
Cedric Ogbuehi played in place of Shell last Sunday.
“We’re really pleased with what Cedric did at right tackle so we feel fortunate that he had a nice game going into this one, but we’ll see what happens with Brandon,” Carroll said.
• Tight end Greg Olsen‘s return from a torn plantar fascia appears to be set.
“Greg’s coming back. He’s going to practice this afternoon. He had a really solid week last week, he looked very good. It was really close enough that he had a chance to play last week. It was such a shock that he was so good so soon that we just didn’t want to press our luck on it, so he’s back in action this week and we’re really happy to get him back out there. He has to make it through the week and all that as always but he’s going full-go today.”
• Defensive tackle Bryan Mone (ankle) was designated to return from IR Wednesday and is in a similar position to Flowers.
“He looked really good in the walkthrough today,” Carrol said. “… He’s gotta practice this week and have a good go at it but he’s got a chance.”
• Rookie defensive end Darrell Taylor (knee) will try to practice for the first time all season next week.
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