Bad Seahawks news at rush end: Griffen signs with Dallas instead, top rookie out for weeks
At this point, it may just be best to forget about pass rushers and rookies the Seahawks take at the top of drafts until their first Augusts are about to end.
Wednesday evening, as they were going back to their homes and hotel room following their first day of training camp, news broke that four-time Pro Bowl defensive end Everson Griffen had decided against signing with Seattle. Griffen signed instead with Dallas. Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Jane Slater of NFL Network first reported it.
The Seahawks had been trying for months to sign Griffen, as they’ve been unable to re-sign Jadeveon Clowney.
We’ll see what Griffen signing with Dallas does to the chances Clowney eventually returns to the Seahawks. The thought that Seattle had moved on from Clowney was partly because of its pursuit of Griffen. That’s been going on since March.
Before the Griffen-to-Dallas news, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll gave an update about rookie edge rusher Darrell Taylor.
It made some Seattle fans cringe at the memories of 2019 first-round pick L.J. Collier’s rare and bad ankle sprain this time last year, and 2017 top pick Malik McDowell’s career-ending ATV accident and head injuries before his first training camp three years ago.
Taylor, the team’s second-round draft choice in April and pass rusher from the University of Tennessee, will remain out indefinitely. Carroll gave what for the almost-always-sunny coach was a rather gloomy assessment Wednesday of Taylor’s status on the Seahawks’ non-football-injury list.
“We’ve got to see. He wasn’t ready to go,” Carroll said after the Seahawks’ first practice of training camp. “There wasn’t any damage to his knee. He’s just got to get back from the work that he’s been doing. I’m not sure how long it’s going to be.
“He’s doing some treatments and things that take a week or so to take hold and all of that. Got good response from that, so far.
“I’m hoping, like, in another couple weeks we can know that he’s ready to get back in it and go. They are working with him right now. He’s dying to get back. But he’s just not quite ready, and we are taking our time to make sure that once he gets back, he gets back for good.”
Some deciphering of Carroll-speak is warranted here.
“The knee” Carroll mentioned is either the coach misspeaking, or a new issue. Taylor had a stress fracture in his lower leg he first felt last August. He played through his entire final season at Tennessee with it, then had surgery Jan. 30 after the college season. Surgeons inserted a metal rod in his leg.
In April, Taylor said “my leg feels as healthy as a horse.”
A league source told The News Tribune last week putting Taylor on the NFL list was related to that surgery he had in January for the lower-leg stress fracture.
Asked to clarify if he was talking Wednesday about Taylor’s January surgery, Carroll said: “yes. It’s still part of the recovery.”
The “some treatments and things that take a week or so to take hold” the coach mentioned sounds like a reference to the blood-spinning, platelet-rich-plasma injection therapy Bobby Wagner, Doug Baldwin, K.J. Wright, Sidney Rice, and many other Seahawks have gone away to have in recent years.
The Seahawks had offseason signees Bruce Irvin and Benson Mayowa working with returning defensive ends Rasheem Green, Collier and rookie fifth-round pick Alton Robinson at defensive end Wednesday. Shaquem Griffen did drills at end, as well, though he remains listed officially as an outside linebacker.
The good news Carroll gave on injuries Wednesday was that Wright had passed his training-camp physical following offseason shoulder surgery. The longest-tenured Seahawk, drafted by Carroll in 2011, was full go and starting as usual next to Wagner on the defense in the first practice Wednesday.
Carroll also said rookie tight end Colby Parkinson, the fourth-round draft choice from Stanford, has “a chance” to return soon. Parkinson had surgery in June for a broken bone on the outside of his foot.
“He’s doing great. He’s rippin’ back here,” Carroll said. “He might have a chance here (to practice) pretty quick to get back out. He’s making good progress. His foot feels fine. There seems to be no residual, at all.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 6:50 PM.
