Seahawks Injuries: ‘Really good chance’ Witherspoon could debut

Sep 11, 2023, 3:03 PM | Updated: 3:18 pm

Devon Witherspoon walks on stage after being drafted fifth overall by the Seattle Seahawks. (David Eulitt/Getty Images)

(David Eulitt/Getty Images)

Editor of SeattleSports.com

The Seattle Seahawks suffered a few worrisome injuries in their Week 1 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, but there is some hope on that front going into Week 2.

Carroll on Seahawks’ rough opener: ‘We gotta get our act together’

Devon Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall NFL Draft pick last April by Seattle, may make his pro debut when the Seahawks go to Detroit next Sunday to face the Lions.

“It’s a really good chance,” Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said Monday on Seattle Sports. “He’s gotta make it through the week. He’ll practice full all week long and he’ll be practicing to play.”

Witherspoon, a cornerback out of Illinois, has been dealing with a hamstring strain going back to the early days of training camp.

Here are a few more injury updates provided by the head coach on Monday’s Pete Carroll Show.

Trouble with tackles

The Seahawks have two standout offensive tackles beginning their second year in the NFL, and neither of them finished Week 1 on the field.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Carroll said about the team’s health at tackle.

Charles Cross, the team’s first-round pick in 2022, and Abraham Lucas, a third-rounder last year, each are dealing with lower-body injuries.

“Charles hurt his toe. He’s a big man so we gotta see how he takes to that during the week. We won’t know for a while,” Carroll said. “With Abe, it’s just an old knee thing that he’s got going on. He’s got an aggravation kind of deal that he’s dealing with and we just gotta see how he handles it. It just got really uncomfortable late in the game and he had to come out.”

Carroll added in a Monday afternoon press conference that both players are considered day-to-day.

Close calls

Both veteran wide receiver Tyler Lockett and second-year edge rusher Boye Mafe appear to be OK after some scary looking incidents against the Rams.

Lockett took a hard shot and was checked for a concussion, while Mafe’s knee was twisted on a play.

On Lockett, Carroll said: “He got whacked. I don’t know if you guys saw that hit – he got whacked pretty good. He held on just fine, made it through the protocol and he was fine afterwards so no problems. We’ll see how he does this morning, I haven’t heard anything different to that.”

As for Mafe: “Mafe got torqued one time, just really frightening torque job by the tackle and his knee got twisted, but he came back and played in the game, did a really good job.”

The Pete Carroll Show airs live at 9:30 a.m. the day after each Seahawks game on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. Listen to this week’s full episode in the podcast at this link or in either of the video and audio players near the top of this post.