Seahawks’ K.J. Wright to have surgery on broken foot
Dec 9, 2013, 12:42 PM | Updated: 9:13 pm
By Brady Henderson
Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright is expected to miss the rest of the regular season and a portion of the playoffs after sustaining a foot injury during Seattle’s loss to the 49ers on Sunday.
That was the word from coach Pete Carroll, who told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “Brock and Danny” Monday that Wright will soon undergo surgery to place a screw in the broken bone in his right foot.
K.J. Wright was having the most productive season of his career before breaking a bone in his foot Sunday. (AP) |
“We’re going to try to operate on him as soon as possible,” Carroll said, adding that the surgery will likely sideline Wright for four to six weeks. That timetable would put Wright on track to return – at the earliest – some time after the wild-card round of the playoffs, though Carroll noted that a four-week recovery period is the absolute minimum for the injury.
Wright was having the most productive season of his career and coming off one of his finest games as a pro before sustaining the injury. Carroll said he took the news hard when he was told by the team’s medical staff about the severity.
“He was as emotionally as you can get, and he lost it a little bit down there when they told him what they thought it was, and they were right,” Carroll said. “Anyways, we move ahead. That’s how that goes. It’s unfortunate. He’s had a great season. He’s been a huge factor to us.”
Wright wrote on his Twitter account Sunday night that he hopes to be back in time for the playoffs.
His injury will be the latest test of the depth on Seattle’s defense, which has played at times this season without one of its best pass rushers (Chris Clemons), its middle linebacker (Bobby Wagner) and two cornerbacks (Brandon Browner and Walter Thurmond).
Malcolm Smith more than capably filled in for Wagner earlier this season and he made four tackles – including one for a loss – after replacing Wright on Sunday. O’Brien Schofield has played both “Leo” defensive end and strong-side linebacker this season, and Carroll said he will do more of the latter in light of Wright’s injury.
“We have a starter in O’Brien, so that’s good to have him ready to go in case we need to do something else,” Carroll said.
Seahawks will wait and see on Unger
More coverage of the Seahawks’ Week-14 loss to San Francisco at Candlestick Park.
• Recap | Stats | Photos | Postgame interviews | • O’Neil: What We Learned | • O’Neil: Seahawks get an important reminder | • O’Neil: Should Seahawks have let 49ers score? | • Henderson: Late-game lapse dooms Seahawks | • Henderson: Seahawks’ penalties loom large |
Carroll said the team will know more later this week about the prognosis for center Max Unger, who left Sunday’s game in the second half after sustaining a pectoral strain.
“We know what it is, we’ve just got to see how it responds during the week,” Carroll said. “It’s something that one of our guys has had before, played with it. So we’ll find out how it is particularly for him … That will take us all the way through the week.”
Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson played through a torn pectoral muscle in 2011, missing one game after the injury and then playing in the remaining 10.
Lemuel Jeanpierre, who has started three games this season in place of Unger, finished Sunday’s game once Unger was injured.
Note
• Carroll didn’t have an injury update on WR Percy Harvin, other than to say the team hopes he can practice Wednesday.
Follow Brady Henderson on Twitter @BradyHenderson.