A new starting CB, Tyler Lockett full go, Jamarco Jones inactive for Seahawks at 49ers
Change promised. Change arrives.
The Seahawks benched Tre Flowers, started former Washington Huskies standout Sidney Jones at left cornerback and moved D.J. Reed from the left side to right cornerback for their game Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers.
Reed started on the right side at the end of last season.
Coach Pete Carroll had said the past week that “not much” was keeping Jones from making his Seattle debut more than a month after the team traded with Jacksonville to get the former Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles starting cornerback.
In moving Reed back to the right side, Carroll and the Seahawks are seeking a return to Reed’s standout play to end the 2020 season.
With Reed starting at left corner and Flowers on the right, the Seahawks entered Sunday having allowed 985 yards and 63 points in consecutive losses to Tennessee and Minnesota.
Also pregame Sunday in Santa Clara: Tyler Lockett appeared to be full go.
Jamarco Jones was inactive, leaving Cedric Ogbuehi in line to start for injured Brandon Shell at right tackle.
And another recent Seahawks first-round draft choice remained a non-factor.
The Seahawks had listed Lockett as questionable to play Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers because of a hip injury.
But he warmed up on the field catching passes over his shoulder during early pregame work as usual Sunday.
Lockett had practiced Friday. Carroll gave indications then Lockett would play.
He’s still missed just one regular-season game in his six-year career. That was Jan. 1, 2017, one week after Lockett broke his leg and had teammate Doug Baldwin praying next to him on the field in a scary scene on Christmas Eve 2016 during a Seahawks home game against Arizona.
Gerald Everett remained on the team’s reserve/COVID-19 list and missed Sunday’s game. The vaccinated starting tight end needed two negative COVID tests in a 24-hour span Saturday and Sunday to possibly “materialize in the Bay Area,” as Carroll said Friday, and play against the 49ers.
Sunday was only the fourth game Everett missed in his five-year NFL career.
The Seahawks activated tight end Colby Parkinson and veteran backup tackle Cedric Ogbuehi from injured reserve Saturday to play Sunday.
Will Dissly was the first tight end, with Parkinson and Tyler Mabry behind him Sunday.
General manager John Schneider said on the team’s radio pregame show Sunday the 6-foot-7 Parkinson was “very excited” to debut in first-time play caller Shane Waldron’s new offense. That was likely to be in many two-tight end formations with Dissly against the 49ers.
“He’s chomping at the bit,” Schneider said.
Ogbuehi became the option to start at right tackle Brandon Shell when Jones was inactive Sunday. Schneider said Jones was sick Saturday and woke up ill again Sunday. It was 90 degrees Sunday for the game in Santa Clara, so the team decided to make Jones inactive.
Shell was out for the second consecutive game with the sprained ankle he got late in Seattle’s home loss to Tennessee two weeks ago.
“Getting Cedric back helps out, a lot,” Schneider told Seattle’s KIRO-AM radio pregame show.
Rookie wide receiver Dee Eskridge missed his third consecutive game. The team’s top draft choice this spring hasn’t played since he was concussed running a fly sweep in Seattle’s opening game at Indianapolis Sept. 12. He returned to practice for the first time this week on a limited basis, but did not progress far enough in the league’s concussion protocol to play against San Francisco.
The Seahawks promoted Cody Thompson from the practice squad to play on special teams for the second consecutive game. The 25-year-old former Ohio high school quarterback and University of Toledo wide receiver made his NFL debut on the kickoff and kickoff-return teams in the first quarter last week in Seattle’s loss at Minnesota.
On Saturday, the Seahawks put often-hurt running back Rashaad Penny on injured reserve. His calf injury has kept him out three weeks, and now will keep the first-round pick in 2018 out at least three more weeks.
L.J. Collier was inactive for the third time in four games this season, as Seattle’s defensive-line rotation continues to exclude him. Former Arizona first-round pick Robert Nkemdiche, signed this past week to the active roster off the practice squad for the rest of the season, has surpassed Collier in the team’s plans at end-turned-hybrid defensive tackle.
The Seahawks’ other inactive players Sunday: injured defensive end Benson Mayowa and reserve cornerback John Reid.
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 11:56 AM.
