When it rains it pours, especially in Seattle. The same is true of the Seahawks’ injury situation, which has gone from bad to worse over the course of just a couple of weeks. Beginning with most of their defensive linemen being ruled out against the Lions (and the logical result), this team has been hammered by injuries, especially on that side of the ball. At the moment three edge rushers and three cornerbacks are dealing with injuries, hitting Seattle hard at two critical positions for the modern game. They’re not the only ones, either.
Yesterday head coach Mike Macdonald had a press conference, and he gave the team beat reporters updates on some of those players. Here’s what Macdonald had to say about each, according to Brady Henderson at ESPN.
RT Abe Lucas
While the defensive injuries are far more extensive, the single biggest weakness for this team right now remains right tackle, where third-stringer Stone Forsythe is having a rough go at it against a string of great edge rushers like Aidan Hutchinson, Brian Burns and Nick Bosa. Primary backup George Fant is still on injured reserve and Abe Lucas won’t be available anytime soon, at least not for next week’s game in Atlanta. Macdonald told reporters Lucas will not play. There’s a decent chance we will see Jason Peters promoted off the practice squad plugged into the lineup against the Falcons, though.
DT Byron Murphy II
In addition to Uchenna Nwosu being on injured reserve and Boye Mafe and Derick Hall not playing at 100%, the Seahawks are still missing their star rookie Byron Murphy II, who has been out since Week 3 with a hamstring injury. Good news here: Macdonald says he feels “optimistic” about Murphy returning for next week’s game in Atlanta.
CB Tre Brown, CB Artie Burns
Seattle was already thin at cornerback with Riq Woolen being ruled out last week, and the situation did not improve during the game as Artie Burns and Tre Brown were eventually both ruled out with injuries of their own. Unfortunately, Macdonald said that he did not have any updates about Brown or Burns.
The team’s first injury report of Week 7 is due out Wednesday. Until then we will have to rely on traditional reporting for updates.
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