Seahawks personnel updates: Anthony McCoy jumps right back in

RENTON – Having played for Pete Carroll at USC before spending his first five NFL seasons with Seattle, tight end Anthony McCoy shouldn’t have a hard time getting reacclimated now that he’s back with the Seahawks.

“We know Anthony really well,” Carroll said.

And vice versa. That familiarity led Seattle to bring McCoy back on Wednesday. The Seahawks had an opening at tight end after waiving Chase Coffman, who was signed last week after Seattle placed Jimmy Graham on season-ending injured reserve. McCoy reunites with Luke Willson – who’s been elevated to the starter – and Cooper Helfet. He’ll jump right back into that mix beginning Sunday in Baltimore.

“We’ve been together like 10 years or something, so he has a lot of background with us and our expectations, and that’s really important right now that he can fit right in,” Carroll said. “It’s hard for someone to jump in to the intricacies that we want to play with, and he’ll be able to do that. So he’ll play in this game and be part of it. It feels comfortable getting him back.”

McCoy was a sixth-round pick in 2010 and spent his first three seasons as a backup. He missed all of 2013 and 2014 after tearing both of his Achilles tendons and was cut when Seattle trimmed its roster to 53 before the start of the regular season. He played in six games for Washington before his release on Nov. 23.

Here are some more personnel updates from Carroll’s press conference:

• The addition of safety Akeem Davis was about bolstering special teams. DeShawn Shead had been on of Seattle’s biggest special-teams contributors, but his role there has been scaled back significantly now that he’s starting at cornerback. Carroll said Seattle’s special-teams coaches had been eyeing Davis for a few weeks. “He’s a hard-nosed guy in special teams. He’s got great energy about him, his toughness, the things that he does as a gunner covering kicks look special to us. So when we had a chance to get him on the roster, we did it. We’re thinking we could really use an infusion of that.”

• Brock Coyle, a backup middle linebacker who’s also a regular contributor on special teams, is on track to play next week against Cleveland. That’s the earliest he would be eligible to do so. Coyle has been on injured reserve/designated to return. “He’s dying to get out there right now. He’s been practicing full-speed for a couple weeks now. He is totally recovered and he’ll be ready to go when available next week.”

• Carroll had no updated estimate on when running back Marshawn Lynch will be able to return from abdominal surgery. Carroll said Monday that he had yet to speak with Lynch, but Carroll said Wednesday that he has since then. “He’s rehabbing and when he’s ready to start working with us we’ll get him going. Not quite yet, but he’s made improvement and he’s feeling OK about it, so we’ll see what happens. It won’t happen this week.”

• Defensive linemen Jordan Hill (toe), Demarcus Dobbs (concussion) and Cliff Avril (not injury-related) didn’t practice Wednesday. Hill and Dobbs both missed Sunday’s game while Avril appears to merely have received a rest day on Wednesday.