How badly is Frank Clark in Seahawks’ doghouse for punching Germain Ifedi?

RENTON If Frank Clark remains in the Seahawks’ doghouse for punching starting right tackle Germain Ifedi to the ground in practice this past week, it’s not readily apparent.

Not on the field, anyway.

General manager John Schneider came up to Clark as the 10-sack man from last season, with a brace on his left knee, was watching Sunday’s practice instead of participating in it for the third consecutive day since the fight in a pass-rush drill. Schneider and Clark shared a laugh and Clark put his arm around the GM during a defensive-line drill that went on a few yards to their right.

Defensive line coach Dwaine Board and others also chatted up Clark during the open practice.

The Seahawks have not described any injury for Clark. But we can be reasonably assume he isn’t limping or wearing a brace because he wants to.

He did not appear to be limping on Thursday when he was in the heated pass-rush drill, then leaped and punched the helmet-less Ifedi in the face with his right hand and dropped him during a melee in it. Nor did he appear to be limping moments after the fight, when a team staffer escorted Clark the length of the field into the locker-room after. That was after coach Pete Carroll ejected Clark from that practice.

Carroll, the team’s lone source of medical details on players, has not spoken to the media since Thursday. He is scheduled to speak publicly again Monday following the team’s mock “game” in the eighth practice of training camp.

Friday, defensive coordinator Kris Richard said the team is punishing Clark.

Of his absences from practice, Richard said: “It’s part of it. That’s part of it. It’s a disciplinary action. You earn the right to be out here on the field with us. You earn the right to come out here and compete. And decisions that are going to be detrimental to us, then we certainly have to handle it internally.”

Just because he doesn’t appear to be exactly shunned right now doesn’t mean Clark has gotten off freely. The team’s punishment hasn’t been specified, but it almost certainly also involves a fine. But the appearances during practice, with the knee brace conspicuous, suggest the Seahawks are at least attempting to move on.

But so far they are doing so without their starting right tackle. Ifedi watched practice instead of participating in it for the third consecutive day, as well.

I asked line coach Tom Cable what Ifedi’s status was.

“Getting him back. Working on it, getting him back,” Cable said.

When I asked him if Ifedi was injured or resting or what, Cable said: “We’re handling that with our people, and letting our medical people and our coach decide what to do.”

Rookie second-round pick Ethan Pocic was the right tackle with the first-team offense for the third consecutive day. He was the second-team right tackle again, too, because reserve Robert Myers was wearing a walking boot over his left leg for the second consecutive day.

Pocic is the highest rookie draft choice practicing for Seattle in camp. Top pick Malik McDowell remains out of practice and out of sight after reporting this past week following his ATV accident and hospitalization in Michigan last month. McDowell remains on the non-football-injury list.

Cable said Pocic’s rise by default into Ifedi’s starting spot at right tackle has accelerated the former LSU center’s development and learning.

“It’s going a little bit faster for him because he is getting the opportunities,” Cable said.

The rest of the offensive line Sunday was much like it was on Friday and Saturday: George Fant was again at left tackle and Luke Joeckel at left guard. Justin Britt was the center with Oday Aboushi getting the early-practice snaps as the first-team right guard and Mark Glowinski the snaps there during practice’s latter half.

Joeckel has been entirely at left guard the last three days, after he was at left tackle in the middle of this past week. Cable said because the Seahawks are down to 10 healthy offensive linemen after one week of camp they are keeping Fant at left tackle and Joeckel at left guard for now.

Besides Ifedi and Myers being out, rookie seventh-round pick Justin Senior, a former Mississippi State tackle, is out indefinitely.

Despite the first week of injuries and his starting right tackle getting decked, Cable was upbeat about his line now compared to last season.

“We’re better because we are a little older,” Cable said. “Got some nice guys as additions in Joeckel and Aboushi, Pocic, Roos, (undrafted rookie Jordan Ross from Purdue, who has been backing up at guard). I think all four guys can help us somewhere.

“Coach and I talked about it: It’s a lot like when freshman that become sophomores,” said Cable, the former head coach at the University of Idaho. “It’s a big jump in that year.”

The Seahawks, their running game -- and especially quarterback Russell Wilson -- need it to be.

This story was originally published August 6, 2017 at 2:10 PM with the headline "How badly is Frank Clark in Seahawks’ doghouse for punching Germain Ifedi?."