Source to TNT: Russell Wilson weighing multiple medical opinions, possible finger surgery
An NFL source tells The News Tribune Russell Wilson is weighing multiple medical opinions in Los Angeles over possibly needing finger surgery and perhaps missing a month of this Seahawks season.
“The day is fluid. Russell is consulting with more than than one specialist,” the league source told the TNT Friday afternoon during Wilson’s day in L.A. seeing doctors following the injury to the tendon in the middle finger of his throwing hand during the Seahawks’ 26-17 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Seattle.
“Just making certain he has all the information to make the right decision,” the source said.
One of the specialists the indispensable, $140 million franchise quarterback saw Friday in California was hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin of Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Center in L.A.
There is a belief Wilson has a condition known as mallet finger. That’s a tearing of the tendon at the top of the middle finger that causes it to bend in toward the hand’s palm and stay there. That’s not good for one of the fingers Wilson uses to spin the football as it leaves that hand on every throw.
The National Health Service of the United Kingdom says mallet finger requires a splint that “must be worn day and night for six to eight weeks to allow the two ends of the torn tendon to stay together and heal. ...
Surgery is only needed if you also have a broken finger, the skin is broken, or in rare cases where mallet finger fails to heal.”
The skin did not appear broken on Wilson’s finger when doctors and trainers looked at it on the Seahawks sideline immediately after the injury. Coach Pete Carroll said Friday Wilson had X-rays, but he didn’t say what those images showed.
Thursday night, Carroll said when asked if Wilson would need surgery “I don’t know.
“He’s already traveling to get it looked at by a specialist and make sure we know exactly what we need to know so the decision can be really clear,” Carroll said.
“He’s getting looked at by an expert this morning, then I will know more. I don’t know much more than (Thursday) night.
“We’ve just got to wait and see what they assess.”
Turns out, Wilson’s seeing more than one expert.
Holding and gripping a football proved impossible for Wilson during Thursday night’s game, after his hand hit the arm of Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald. That was on the follow through of Wilson’s incomplete pass beyond Tyler Lockett with 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
Coach Pete Carroll said Friday morning “it could be” a mallet finger injury.
Wilson, 32, has never missed a game in his 10-year career. That’s 165 consecutive starts.
The Seahawks play next in nine days, at Pittsburgh. For now, veteran Geno Smith is Seattle’s quarterback.
He hasn’t started a game since Dec. 3, 2017, for the New York Giants at Oakland.
Smith played for Wilson in the fourth quarter Thursday night. He completed all five passes on his first drive, including a 23-yard strike to DK Metcalf. He led a 98-yard drive despite not having played in the last 3 1/2 season beyond mop-up duty in one Seahawks game late last season.
“I’ll be ready,” Smith said after Thursday’s game.
