Seahawks begin life without Russell Wilson. Can he be the best Geno Smith preparer ever?
His quarterbacks coach leaned into Geno Smith. They talked intently through stretching.
Another assistant coach talked with Jake Luton.
And Russell Wilson was nowhere in sight. Not for the start of practice.
By the end of it, Wilson was on the field for 30 minutes in sweats with a team jacket on, his surgically repaired throwing hand in a dark, bulbous wrap — and what his coach says is Wilson’s new goal.
Seattle’s record-setting QB who has said he wants to be the best to ever play is now competing to become the best Geno Smith preparer there ever was.
“Imagine how, if he can figure out a way he can compete at that, he’s doing it,” coach Pete Carroll said of Wilson following Monday’s practice. “So he’s already starting to listen to the game plan. He’s figuring out where it fits and how it’s going to go. He’s preparing just like he is playing.
“His plan is to stay as sharp and as fresh as he possibly can.”
The Seahawks’ on-field life without their $140 million franchise quarterback began Monday. And Wilson missing a regular-season practice for the first time in his 10-year career felt as sparse as it looked.
Smith and Luton were the only two passers on the field for start of the team’s first practice since Wilson had surgery to repair a ruptured tendon and dislocation in the middle finger of his throwing hand. Wilson was injured during Seattle’s home loss to the Los Angeles Rams Thursday.
So ends Wilson’s streak of 165 consecutive starts in the regular-season and playoffs to begin his career. His 149 consecutive regular-season starts is the NFL’s longest active one by 68 games over Tom Brady. Wilson’s regular-season games streak is the sixth-longest in league history. Brett Favre holds the NFL record with 297 consecutive starts from 1992-2010.
“We don’t have any timelines for you, at all, right now” on Wilson’s possible return, Carroll said following the Seahawks’ first extensive work since the loss to the Rams four days earlier.
“I know that’s all you want to hear, but we don’t have anything like that.”
Oh, they have one. The Seahawks have a ballpark expectation on when Wilson may be back on the field.
“That doesn’t mean I’m sharing it with you,” Carroll said.
“He’s in really good spirits, really active today as much as he can be around us. ... Really happy for the results of the initial part of it.”
Los Angeles-based hand specialist Dr. Steven Shin did Wilson’s surgery Friday at the Cedars-Sinai Kerlan Jobe Surgery Center in Los Angeles. Shin stabilized Wilson’s finger with screws.
“He will start therapy this weekend and it is highly anticipated that he will return to play later this season,” Shin wrote in a statement the Seahawks released Friday night.
“Based on what I saw today, I am fully confident Russell will return to the NFL this season and play at the same world class level that fans have come to expect of one of the game’s very best quarterbacks,” Shin concluded.
From the type of surgery Wilson had and the need for screws to be inserted to stabilize the finger, estimates are he could return between four and six weeks following surgery, which was Friday.
Six weeks would be Nov. 19. Seattle hosts currently unbeaten Arizona in Week 11 on Nov. 21.
It’s possible if not likely the Seahawks will put Wilson on the injured-reserve list. If they do, he could return to practice and play off IR in as few as three weeks, per NFL rule changes on injured reserve from recent seasons.
Wilson to IR would mean he would miss the team’s three games before Seattle’s bye on Nov. 7. That is at Pittsburgh (2-3) Sunday and home to play New Orleans (3-2) Oct. 25 and Jacksonville (0-5) Oct. 31.
“We’ll see,” Carroll said of Wilson to IR. “That’s an option.”
Carroll said he didn’t know if Wilson needs a second procedure to remove the screws from his finger before he can throw, and play, again.
“I don’t know that, either, I really don’t,” Carroll said. “I don’t know the answer to that.”
Smith turned 31 on Sunday. Monday, he was the only quarterback on Seattle’s 53-man active roster, preparing to start against the Steelers Sunday night in Pittsburgh.
“I’ll be ready,” Smith said.
It will be his first NFL start since Dec. 3, 2017, for the New York Giants against Oakland.
“Now that he gets a chance, we need him now,” Carroll said. “We need him to come through and play hard and play great football. He knows that.
“And this is what he’s been preparing for.”
Luton, 25, is likely to get promoted from the practice squad to the active roster to be Smith’s backup for Sunday’s game. The former Oregon State quarterback from Marysville signed to the Seahawks’ active roster off waivers from Jacksonville Sept. 1. Seattle waived him and put him on its practice squad last week.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 4:54 PM.
