Huard: A minor Seattle Seahawks injury is worth some concern

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll went through a list of injury updates at the end of training camp practice Sunday, and a few of those updates caught attention.

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The impending return of Pro Bowl cornerback Riq Woolen (offseason knee surgery) to the field, and the actual return of rookie running back Zach Charbonnet (shoulder injury) are positive developments.

There was also news about outside linebacker Darrell Taylor (“We don’t think it’s going to take very long,” Carrol said of his sprained shoulder) and another rookie running back, Kenny McIntosh (his sprained knee “might be a couple weeks”).

One other injury was mentioned quickly and may have gone under the radar, but it’s one that gives Seattle Sports’ Brock Huard reason for pause.

“Dre Jones was the most concerning (injury update),” Huard said Monday during the daily Blue 88 segment on Brock and Salk.

Dre’Mont Jones was the jewel of Seattle’s offseason, a fearsome defensive end signed away from the Denver Broncos on a three-year contract reportedly worth over $51 million. The fact that he left Sunday’s practice early with a toe issue is not something Huard, a former NFL quarterback who now is a FOX football analyst, takes lightly.

Part of the reason is he knows Carroll wouldn’t have had much information on Jones’ status during his Sunday press conference.

“(Jones) did something on his toe, banged his toe on the ground or something like that. I don’t know the extent of it,” Carroll said at the time.

Huard’s response: “(Carroll) didn’t know at that time, literally, (other than Jones) is at least walking off the field under his own power. … Pete knows now, and we will know (Monday) when they go to practice. Is Dre Jones in a boot? Is Dre able to practice? Was it truly that he just got stepped on, got kicked?”

At 6 foot 3 and 281 pounds, Jones is one of the bigger players on a Seahawks defensive line that still isn’t as big as many would expect from a defense with a 3-4 front. And that, plus the impact he’s expected to make in Seattle, makes the possibility of any lingering injury worth being concerned about. Luckily Jones was back at practice on Monday, per ESPN’s Brady Henderson, but that doesn’t mean for sure that his toe will be 100% going forward.

“You know, I think you said this a couple of weeks ago leading into this training camp as far as most irreplaceable,” Huard said to his co-host, Mike Salk. “If we did the old Brock and Salk most irreplaceable…”

Salk picked up where Huard left off.

“He’s going to be pretty high the list,” Salk said of Jones.

Continued Huard: “Irreplaceable, because of his violence, his skill set, his ability to get after the line of scrimmage. That (defensive) front did a pretty good job in the mock game (Friday) and I’m excited to watch him – maybe not in these preseason games being on full tilt, but certainly against LA in Week 1. He is a major, major cog in that.”

Listen to the full conversation from Blue 88 in the final segment of the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

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• Seahawks WR Dee Eskridge suspended for first six games of 2023
• Rost’s takeaways and injury notes from training camp
• QB Geno Smith won’t face DUI charges following 2022 arrest
• Cowherd: Seattle Seahawks’ Pete Carroll was ‘tone-deaf’ but has ‘pivoted’

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