As promised Seahawks’ Greg Olsen roaring back from injury--and still winning off the field
Greg Olsen said he wasn’t going out this way.
The 35-year-old tight end vowed he would not let a torn plantar fascia in his foot end his Seahawks career after three months—and his NFL career after 14 years, 207 games, three Pro Bowl selections and a Super Bowl.
It appears he indeed won’t be going out that way.
Olsen is wowing coaches and the Seahawks’ medical staff with how quickly and well he is recovering from the injury he got Nov. 19 in Seattle’s home win over Arizona.
“He is surprising us the way he looks already,” coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday, four days before the Seahawks (8-4) host the New York Jets (0-12).
Olsen, the long-time Carolina Panthers Pro Bowl veteran, is Seattle’s number-one tight end with 23 catches, 224 yards and a touchdown in 10 games. He signed a $7 million, one-year contract in January. He has a football-analyst job waiting for him with Fox television whenever he decides to stop playing.
He’s planning on playing again during the Seahawks’ drive to the playoffs.
“Who’s to say how long it’ll take?” Carroll said. “We’re not gonna set any limits on him.
“He’s doing some good stuff.”
Really good stuff.
He’s been saving kids.
Monday, the day after he missed his second game since the injury, his team’s loss to the Giants, Olsen and his wife Kara opened The HEARTest Yard Congenital Heart Center at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C.
He and Kara run his foundation based in Charlotte from his nine seasons playing for the Carolina Panthers through last year, Receptions For Research. Each spring the Olsens host The HEARTest Yard event and 5K race in Charlotte to raise awareness and funds for children with congenital heart disorders.
Their 8-year-old son T.J. was born was a congenital heart defect.
The new center at Levine Children’s Hospital, in conjunction with Atrium Health, has been eight years in the planning and funding by the Olsens.
“As parents, we quickly realized how complex it would be to help our son as he went through his multiple heart surgeries, but the real challenge came after we left the hospital,” Olsen said in Atrium Health’s announcement of the new center.
“We noticed that T.J., and others who have gone through what he had, needed additional support and care from a team of experts who were closely connected to one another and could seamlessly share feedback at one time with the family.”
The Olsens’ new outpatient clinic will open in mid-December. It has 25,000 square feet of state-of-the-art interactive space for all children. The center has a dedicated fetal echocardiography lab and 25 patient rooms. The clinic also features a separate space for adults with congenital heart disease. That will allow for specialized for patients from before birth through adulthood.
Olsen plans on being back playing for the Seahawks around the time of the center’s opening. He becomes eligible to return from injured reserve next week, following Seattle’s game Sunday against the Jets.
That minimum time on IR didn’t seem realistic the night he could barely walk and needed the team’s medical staff to help him off the field three weeks ago.
But Carroll said the next day the fact Olsen completely tore the thick band of tissue on the bottom of the foot that connects the heel and toes made Seahawks doctors hopeful the tight end could return to being Russell Wilson’s top tight-end target sooner than if he had plantar fasciitis. That’s the long-lasting inflammation and searing pain in that ligament.
Olsen scored a touchdown in his first game with Wilson, in Seattle’s opening win at Atlanta Sept. 13.
After that game, one game, Olsen already saw Wilson and his throws could cover others’ mistakes.
“We had some mistakes and some miscues that sometimes don’t pop out on the screen,” Olsen said. “Sometimes Russ can make some mistakes go away.
“He’s sort of an eraser to a degree.”
Olsen may be back to join “The Eraser” sooner than anyone figured.
“Greg’s making a big turnaround,” Carroll said.
McGough back
The Seahawks signed back their former draft pick Alex McGough to the practice squad. He’s the team’s fourth quarterback.
Seattle drafted McGough out of Florida International in 2018. He spent training camp in 2019 with Jacksonville, then last season on the Houston Texans’ practice squad. The Texans released him in October.
He and Danny Etling are the QBs on the practice squad. The Seahawks have separated Etling from Wilson and backup quarterback Geno Smith away from the team facility as a precaution,in case the other QBs become ineligible because of COVID-19 issues.
Carroll said signing McGough is another step for Seattle to have a contingency from the coronavirus—and the Seahawks learning from the Denver Broncos losing all four of their QBs to COVID-19 testing and contract tracing for a game last month.
