Seahawks Injuries: Taylor and Lewis to play vs Jaguars, Eskridge to return after bye
Oct 29, 2021, 9:47 AM
Seahawks pass rusher Darrell Taylor gets into position during a preseason game against Minnesota. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Seahawks at 2-5 desperately need a win over the 1-5 Jacksonville Jaguars before hitting the bye week, and it sounds like two key contributors will be back for Seattle on Sunday.
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As he does every Friday morning, Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll joined Seahawks play-by-play man Steve Raible on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Seattle’s Morning News for The Pete Carroll Preview to discuss Seattle’s upcoming matchup. He also gave a lot of updates regarding injured players during his conversation with Raible.
Here’s what Carroll had to say.
Boost in the trenches
Second-year players Darrell Taylor (neck) and Damien Lewis both missed the Seahawks’ last game against the New Orleans Saints. But the young defensive end and left guard both are expected to suit up against the Jaguars.
“Both of those guys practiced so far this week,” Carroll said. “I know Darrell in particular is really hyped and ready to go. Damien said he’s playing questions asked. He’s may be a little bit more sore getting through it than Darrell is. Both those guys should come back to play.”
Taylor suffered a scary neck injury two weeks ago in Pittsburgh that resulted in him being carted off the field on a stretcher, but the injury wound up being just a sore neck and Carroll said after the New Orleans game that Taylor was close to playing, but just wasn’t quite ready.
Getting Taylor back will be a big boost for the Seahawks’ defense as the 2020 second-round pick leads the Seahawks with four sacks.
“We’ve really been impressed with his consistency of his work and his focus and the energy that he brings,” Carroll said. “He is a really positive force. He is young though at his position and young at learning the game so we are trying to bring him along so he can be really successful and not have the setbacks and all that. He’s really coming on. He should be playing a great deal now. If he feels good enough for it this week he should play a ton.”
Rookie expected back after the bye
The Seahawks had high expectations for second-round receiver Dee Eskridge as the team’s third receiver entering the 2021 season, but he only got three touches before suffering a very serious concussion in Week 1. He has yet to play since.
The good news, Carroll said, is that after doing some tests and training in Florida, Eskridge has returned to the Seahawks.
“He had a great first day back, yeah. He really did,” Carroll said. “He thought that the 10 days down there for him, which were grueling in terms of what he was doing and the workouts and all of the training he was doing, was really beneficial and he feels great. We’ve got to take it one day at a time. This was the first day he was out there off to the side – he can’t practice with us yet – but he did get a good work out today and I am anxious to see how the workout affected him.”
Eskridge is still on injured reserve and won’t play this weekend, but he should be back for the Seahawks’ next game.
“He seems really positive and really ready to roll, so we are really excited about getting him back after the bye,” Carroll said.
As far as the specifics of Eskridge’s concussion, Carroll said that the rookie had “a specific function that was disrupted” as a result of the injury, and he and medical staff had to work to “kind of gain control of” it so his vision was back to normal.
“We’re really proud of the work he’s put in,” Carroll said. “He really dug in and did all of the hard stuff since we sent him out of here – he’s been gone for a couple weeks almost – and two times he went to Florida for his training and hopefully it made a big difference.”
Stars in the backfield
The Seahawks will again be without star quarterback Russell Wilson (finger) and running back Chris Carson (neck) as they’re on injured reserve. Both are eligible to return after Seattle’s bye in Green Bay.
Carroll said there’s “nothing on Russ” in terms of an update on the injured finger, but he did provide an update of sorts on Carson.
“Chris, he continues to work at it. He is working out hard. He is not practicing, of course,” Carroll said. “There’s no updates really to say, ‘Yeah, they are ready to roll.’ We can’t tell you that yet.”
Listen to The Pete Carroll Preview at this link or in the player below.
