Tre Brown may return by June after knee surgery. Here’s the Seahawks’ cornerback situation
One of the Seahawks’ best players over the last, far-from-best month may be back on the field by next summer.
Rookie starting cornerback Tre Brown had season-ending knee surgery Tuesday. The Seahawks’ head team physician estimates Brown could return to full football activity by June.
Brown’s surgery repaired a torn patellar tendon plus “medial and lateral retinacular tears,” Dr. Ed Khalfayan said in a statement the team released Tuesday. The retinaculars hold the tendon at the front of the knee in place.
“He will remain on crutches for six weeks and his rehabilitation period will be six to seven months,” Khafayan said. “I expect him to make a full recovery.”
Brown’s knee buckled Sunday as he was jumping to defend a pass to Arizona’s A.J. Green in the second quarter of 3-7 Seattle’s latest loss, 23-13 to the Cardinals.
Brown was the second of the Seahawks’ three draft choices this past spring. He seized the starting left cornerback job last month aggressively attacking passes in the air and receivers after catches. That was after he spent two months on injured reserve with a knee injury from a preseason game in August.
Coach Pete Carroll said Monday morning on his weekly radio show with KIRO-AM that Brown has had an “long-term” knee issue since at least back to his days playing at Oklahoma University.
“The sooner the better to get him operated on,” Carroll said, with an eye toward Brown starting at cornerback to begin Seattle’s 2022 season.
The issues continue for Seahawks’ top draft choices in recent years.
Last year’s second-round pick Darrell Taylor had leg surgery three months before the 2020 draft to repair a stress fracture. The Seahawks drafted the edge rusher expecting him to be well past that injury by the preseason. He didn’t play a down for them his rookie year.
Rashaad Penny, Seattle’s first-round pick in 2018, has been injured for most of his four seasons with the team. The running back is hurt again, with a hamstring injury he got on his 18-yard run the first play of the game last weekend.
Malik McDowell was the Seahawks’ top pick in 2017. He got into a mysterious ATV accident and sustained serious head injuries a couple months after that draft. He never practiced beyond a rookie minicamp for the team and never played for Seattle.
The 5-foot-10 Brown’s emergence at cornerback before he got hurt this summer and again when he returned from injured reserve last month sent Sidney Jones to the bench.
Jones played Sunday against the Cardinals because starting right cornerback D.J. Reed missed the game with knee and groin injuries. Carroll said Monday “I don’t know of any updates” on Reed’s status for the Seahawks’ next game in seven days, at Washington (4-6).
“He did not have a severe injury,” Carroll said, “but he did have a setback.”
Bless Austin, a former New York Jets starter, entered the Cardinals game to play opposite Jones after Brown got hurt midway through the second quarter Sunday. Carroll said of Austin’s first defensive snaps in a game for the Seahawks: “He survived.”
That is typically a Carroll euphemism for “he didn’t play very well.”
Austin entered at right cornerback in the second quarter against Arizona Sunday after Brown got hurt. Jones moved to the left side. On Austin’s second drive playing, he fell down running up to defend a stop route outside by Antoine Wesley. The Cardinals wide receiver sped past the fallen Austin for a 20-yard gain.
Carroll praised Jones, the former University of Washington standout acquired at the start of the season about the same time Seattle added Austin, for his play against Arizona. Jones and Carroll thought the former Eagles and Jaguars starter made a game-changing interception and return to the Arizona 11-yard line in the third quarter. It was ruled that way on the field. But a replay review by NFL headquarters in New York ruled the diving Jones used the ground to secure the ball between his arms, so the play became an incomplete pass instead.
Carroll was still questioning that call into Monday.
The Seahawks also have cornerbacks Nigel Warrior and John Reid. The team claimed Warrior off waivers from Baltimore Sept. 1. Six days later, Warrior went on injured reserve with a knee injury and Seattle claimed Austin off waivers from the Jets.
Seattle traded a conditional late-round draft pick to Houston to acquire Reid, a second-year man, in late August. He’s played one snap on defense this season and 26 on special teams in five games for the Seahawks.
Monday, Carroll made it sound as if Reid is more of an option to Warrior to join the year-long competition at cornerback with Brown out for the year and fellow starter Reed hurting.
Asked what he’s seen from Warrior, designated last week to return to practice off IR, Carroll said: “He’s just getting going. It’s been a long haul for him being out, but he’s getting going, working hard, and making some plays in practice. We are starting to see him compete and we are looking to see what he can contribute on special teams as well, like he has in the past, somewhat. He’s making a move to show what he can do.”
As for the cornerback situation now without the impressive Brown, Carroll mentioned the uncertainty with Reed, Austin’s “survived” debut and Jones’ good game against Arizona.
“John Reid is available to us too to help us when we need him,” Carroll said.
This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 5:47 PM.
