John Schneider: Jimmy Graham, Thomas Rawls won’t be ready for start of Seahawks training camp
Jul 28, 2016, 2:28 PM | Updated: 3:13 pm
The Seahawks are taking it slow with Jimmy Graham's return from a torn patellar tendon. (AP)
(AP)
RENTON – Tight end Jimmy Graham and running back Thomas Rawls will be sidelined when the Seahawks begin training camp on Saturday, though the team believes both players are still on track to be ready for the start of the regular season.
That was the update general manager John Schneider gave Thursday while speaking with a group of reporters at the team’s headquarters. Schneider also said he expects defensive lineman Michael Bennett to report for the start of training camp but declined to get into the specifics of his contract situation. The team and Bennett’s agent, Doug Hendrickson, were reportedly scheduled to meet early this week regarding the new contract Bennett has been seeking for more than a year.
“What I would say is that, like I said earlier, 90 percent of my job is being a good listener,” Schneider said. “So that’s about all I can say on that.”
Seahawks players are due to report to camp on Friday for physicals, with the first practice scheduled for Saturday morning. Schneider said Graham and Rawls aren’t ready to start practicing, at least not right away as they continue to recover from injuries that cut their 2016 seasons short. Graham’s was a torn patellar tendon in his knee that required surgery. Rawls broke his ankle and sustained some ligament damage.
“No, we’re going to be very, very careful with those guys,” Schneider said, adding that the team has yet to decide whether or not to place them on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Players who begin training camp on PUP can be taken off at any time before the start of the regular season. It’s only when a player begins the season on PUP that he must miss the first six games.
Schneider said if Graham and Rawls aren’t placed on PUP, the team is “just going to be very careful with them. We’re still working through that with our medical staff, our sports-science staff.”
The team has said that both players are on track to be ready by the time the regular season begins Sept. 11. Schneider answered in the affirmative when asked if that’s still the case.
“They are, yep,” he said. “That’s our understanding.”
