Seahawks personnel updates: Secondary still banged up, Luke Willson limited in practice

RENTON – The Seahawks aren’t certain whether their secondary will be at anything close to full strength Sunday against Cleveland with Kam Chancellor, DeShawn Shead and Marcus Burley all nursing injuries.

Burley was the only one of those three who practiced Wednesday. He and Shead injured their ankles in Seattle’s win over Baltimore while Chancellor bruised his tailbone. Coach Pete Carroll indicated on Monday that Chancellor likely wouldn’t be able to practice Wednesday, which was the case.

“He’s still sore,” Carroll said of Chancellor. “We’re going to wait during the week here and see how he comes back.”

Kelcie McCray took over at strong safety when Chancellor went down in the first quarter against Baltimore and would start there against Cleveland if needed.

While Shead didn’t practice, Carroll said he ran on the sideline during the morning walk-through “and looked pretty good for the first day back.”

That Burley practiced Wednesday is a good sign for his availability on Sunday. If Shead can’t play, Seattle would likely insert Burley at nickelback then move Jeremy Lane to right cornerback.

The Seahawks got some encouraging news with tight end Luke Willson, who was able to practice on a limited basis Wednesday despite a rib injury he sustained against Baltimore. Carroll said Monday that Willson had an MRI earlier in the day, an indication that the injury might be serious.

Tight end Anthony McCoy (ankle/knee) didn’t practice Wednesday. His injuries as well as Willson’s were likely factors in Seattle’s decision to bring back Chase Coffman on Tuesday.

Willson has come back quickly from injuries before, including ankle sprains in 2013 and 2014 that didn’t cause him to miss any games.

“Luke is a remarkable healer. I don’t know how he does it,” Carroll said. “But he feels like he can get some work done today. That really gives us a sign that he has a chance to be ready to play this weekend.”

Here are some additional personnel notes:

• Defensive lineman Michael Bennett didn’t practice Wednesday, but Carroll said it looks like he’ll be able to play Sunday despite lingering soreness in the toe that has previously given him trouble.

• Defensive tackle Jordan Hill didn’t practice Wednesday, either. Carroll said he’s “still a ways off” from returning from the toe injury that has sidelined him the last two games, but Carroll said he had no more specific estimate on when that could be.

• Defensive end Demarcus Dobbs practiced Wednesday for the first time since sustaining a concussion against Pittsburgh, which sidelined him the last two weeks. Dobbs was limited in practice.

• Defensive end Cliff Avril didn’t practice Wednesday, but his absence was not injury-related.

• Wide receiver B.J. Daniels is back on Seattle’s practice squad. He was waived on Tuesday and went unclaimed.

• Your Marshawn Lynch update du jour: Carroll said the decision to bring back running back Christine Michael doesn’t reflect any new information about if or when Lynch might return from abdominal surgery, which is still up in the air. Asked if it’s possible Lynch never makes it back this season, Carroll said: “I don’t know that. I don’t know, really. He has to make it back to full speed and get going and all that kind of stuff. There’s a really good chance that he will be back. If we can keep playing games, it’ll help. The more that we can play, the better his chances are. So we’ll see.”

• Asked about how wide receiver Ricardo Lockette is recovering from neck surgery, Carroll said he has seemed “very spirited and upbeat” in the times they’ve seen each other. Carroll had previously said that Lockette would be around the facility during his rehab. “I wish he was here more,” Carroll said. “I wish he was here all the time. I don’t know much about the recovery. This is a real quiet time for what he’s doing. He can’t do a lot right now. But he’s been of good spirit when we’ve seen him.”

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