Richard Sherman, Doug Baldwin share laughs, Russell Wilson shares hug Seahawks-49ers pregame
Richard Sherman and Doug Baldwin laughed and talked like the long-time friends they are.
Standing in the same, south end zone at CenturyLink Field near the spot Sherman’s famously tipped a pass from San Francisco’s Colin Kaepernick into a Seahawks interception that sealed Seattle’s win in the NFC championship in January 2014, the three-time All-Pro cornerback had on his 49ers team gear he began wearing this season.
Baldwin, his teammate for seven seasons after they left Stanford together and joined the NFL and Seahawks together, was in his Seahawks pregame gear. Baldwin covered his mouth with his blue-and-green glove to thwart any potential lip readers.
Then Russell Wilson walked up. Wearing his speaker headphones, as usual, the Seahawks’ quarterback and Sherman shared a man-hug.
It appeared for that moment, anyway, that Sherman and Wilson had more than “no relationship,” which is what Sherman had said Thursday.
Later, when both teams were on the field in full uniform for pregame drills, Seahawks general manager John Schneider went up to Sherman on the end of the field the 49ers were using to warm up. The GM then hugged his former star cornerback.
Yes, it appeared all Kumbaya for Sherman, the early-arriving fans and his former Seahawks teammates and leaders before his return game in Seattle Sunday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.
When Sherman came back out with 49ers defensive backs in full uniform about an hour before kickoff, there were some boos among the few thousand fans who were at their seats by then.
Sherman readied to start for the 10th time in 12 games for San Francisco--he missed two due to injury issues related to the torn Achilles tendon from last November.
That injury led the Seahawks to waive Sherman, 30, injured in March and avoid paying him the $11 million they had been scheduled to owe him for the 2018 season. One day later, he signed a three-year, $27.15 contract full of incentives for playing time and Pro Bowl selections.
Sherman earned another $125,000 bonus Sunday for playing.
Thursday, I asked Baldwin how he felt about the way it ended for Sherman in Seattle.
“I thought it was really sh***y, to be honest with you, how it ended,” Baldwin said.
The Seahawks’ news from Sunday’s pregame: Pro Bowl linebacker K.J. Wright was inactive for the ninth time in 12 games since his knee surgery in August. Coach Pete Carroll said Friday the team will reassess Wright on Wednesday or Thursday this week to determination more when he may be able to return to playing.
Starting defensive tackle Shamar Stephen was inactive because of a foot injury through which he’d played for weeks. That meant more time for Nazair Jones and Poona Ford at defensive tackle against the 49ers, who entered Sunday fifth in the NFL in rushing offense. Jones and Ford have alternated being healthy inactives for games this season.
Ford was the starting defensive tackle next to Jarran Reed during the Seahawks’ pregame drills. Seattle usually goes eight or nine deep in its defensive-line rotation in the first quarter.
The rest of Seattle’s inactive players Sunday: injured backup safety and special-teams player Shalom Luani, injured fullback Tre Madden, reserve cornerback Kalan Reed, reserve guard Ethan Pocic and rookie defensive end Rasheem Green.
J.D. McKissic was active to make his season debut after the third-down back returned this week from injured reserve. As became obvious on Friday they were about to do, the Seahawks put fellow running back C.J. Prosise on injured reserve Saturday with an abdominal injury Carroll said Friday Prosise had for weeks.
The Seahawks added linebacker Emmanuel Ellerbee to the active roster from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. He’s holding a roster spot warm until the Seahawks can add suspended linebacker Mychal Kendricks for next week’s home game against Minnesota.
This story was originally published December 2, 2018 at 12:38 PM.
