The Pete Carroll Show: Percy Harvin nearing return

By Brady Henderson

The Seahawks will likely welcome back their starting tight end this week but could be without their leading pass rusher.

Such is life for a team that hasn’t been at anything close to full strength during its 5-1 start and still won’t be when it heads to Glendale, Ariz. for a Thursday night matchup with the Cardinals.

Tight end Zach Miller is expected to play after missing the last two games with a hamstring injury, but coach Pete Carroll told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Brock and Danny” on Monday that the team is still awaiting MRI results on defensive end Chris Clemons’ elbow, which he hyperextended late in Seattle’s win over Tennessee.

“We don’t know. We’ll wait and see,” Carroll said.

Ditto for wide receiver Percy Harvin, who is eligible to begin practicing this week after sitting out the first six games while on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Harvin – who had hip surgery on Aug. 1 – has five weeks to begin practicing, at which point Seattle has three weeks to activate him. While that process likely won’t begin this week given the truncated schedule before the Thursday night game, Carroll said it should happen sooner rather than later.

“Unfortunately, this week of practice is not a very good week to come back to because we’re so short this week that we basically walk through and get the guys ready for the game in that fashion, so it’s not a great week,” Carroll said. “He really ran well last week and ran well in pregame, I don’t know if you guys saw that. He’s fast and moving at a good clip. I don’t know until we get to our meetings with our trainers. The doctors are here this morning to see if they want to go ahead and let him practice, but he’s getting really close.

“I know he’s wanting to do it, so we’ll see where it is. Very, very encouraged by what he’s doing right now, and everybody should be very hopeful that it’s not too far off now.”

Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.