With J.D. McKissic returning off IR to Seahawks practice, what will happen to C.J. Prosise?
J.D. McKissic is on his way back.
Where will that leave C.J. Prosise?
Yes, Prosise is still on the team. For now.
The Seahawks on Monday designated McKissic to return from injured reserve, according to the league’s official transactions. That means the pass-catching running back and kick returner can practice this week for the first time since he broke a bone in his foot in August.
The team has three weeks to decide whether McKissic is ready enough to join the 53-man active roster. If the Seahawks don’t activate him in three weeks, he goes back on IR for the remainder of this season.
Each team has two players per season it can assign as IR/designated to return.
McKissic, whom the Seahawks claimed off waivers from Atlanta late in the 2016 season, joins a productive Seattle backfield that, when healthy, is already full.
“J.D. McKissic is going to come back to practice this week for the first time,” coach Pete Carroll said. “So he’ll have a chance to see what he can do to make it more confusing and challenging.
“But that’s a good thing.”
Chris Carson is the undisputed lead back with three 100-yard rushing days in his last six games plus 83 yards in the Seahawks’ comeback win over Green Bay last week. That was his return game from missing the loss at the Los Angeles Rams with a hip injury. The bullish runner has also missed one other game, Sept. 30 at Arizona, with a groin injury.
Rookie Rashaad Penny last week surpassed Mike Davis as the number-two back. That was after Penny, the first-round draft choice, had his first 100-yard game, an explosive day against the Rams.
Davis, shiftier, was the third-down back against the Packers. He was Seattle’s lead back at the end of last season, after Carson broke his leg as a rookie. But the role of third-down back is what McKissic can and has filled for the Seahawks.
Prosise? Remember him?
It’s become easy to forget the third-round draft choice in 2016. The former Notre Dame wide receiver and running back had back-to-back impressive games in November 2016, 153 rushing and receiving yard at New England then a 72-yard touchdown run against Philadelphia, yet has done little else for the Seahawks but get injured. This year he’s finally been healthy, but that may be because he hasn’t played enough to get hurt again.
He has been a healthy inactive for five of Seattle’s 10 games this season. That includes four of the last six. This season he has just one carry, a 3-yard loss in a 2-minute drill at the Rams two weeks ago, and three catches for 22 yards.
McKissic, also a former wide receiver, has the same skill set as Prosise and until this summer’s injury has been more dependable to remain on the field once on it.
Prosise has played in just 16 of a possible 42 regular-season games since the Seahawks drafted him. He’s had eight different injuries in his three years on the team and in the NFL.
Even while McKissic was on injured reserve during the first 10 games, the Seahawks half the time decided Prosise wasn’t worth putting in a uniform as one of the 46 players active on game days. And that’s been while Seattle has featured running backs more than any time in the last three years, rising to the top of the NFL in rushing offense.
It’s highly unlikely McKissic will be ready to play by this Sunday in the huge game with playoff implications at Carolina, since he’s been out for three months. But he could be ready next week before the home game against San Francisco. Once McKissic is added to the active roster and comes back to play, the team must decide if Prosise is still worth keeping on it.
“We just can’t get everybody up. I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Carroll said. “J.D. complicates it more by being a really good player. J.D.’s one of the better special-teams guys, as well, of that group. We’ll just wait it all out, figure it out and have to make some tough decisions.
“It really bothers me that C.J. is not part of this, because C.J. is worthy of being a part of it.
“It’s just kind of the rotations and how it’s fitted together.”
