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This time each year, the Seahawks’ running backs coach welcome new guys onto the active roster and into team headquarters. That’s because, as sure as Santa Claus, the Seahawks get running backs hurt and need new ones to fill in.
This week, rookie starter Kenneth Walker has an ankle injury he got in the first half of Seattle’s win over the Los Angeles Rams last weekend. DeeJay Dallas also has an injured ankle. Travis Homer has an injured knee.
Seattle just signed veteran Wayne Gallman. Tony Jones, a waiver pickup from New Orleans midseason, was the lone healthy runner last weekend, the fourth-string rusher in the second half of Seattle’s win at the Los Angeles Rams. Darwin Thompson is poised to come up from the practice squad to play Sunday when the Seahawks (7-5) host Carolina (4-8) and try to keep pace with San Francisco atop the NFC West. Godwin Igwebuike may also get promoted from the practice squad this weekend.
It’s not a stretch to believe he has Marshawn Lynch on speed dial in case they need to call him again on Christmas Eve.
That’s what the Seahawks did amid a similar rash of running backs’ injuries in December 2019.
Morton laughed at that following practice Wednesday.
He knew better than to absolutely rule it out.
“That’s pretty much how it is,” Morton said of late in Seahawks season, at the position where the team watched Chris Carson have to retire this spring after neck surgery and lost Rashaad Penny to a broken leg in October.
The Seahawks got one of their top three injured runners back Wednesday. Homer practiced on limited basis Wednesday, then fully on Thursday. He missed the Rams game with the knee issue on top of being sick all last week.
“Homer looked good,” coach Pete Carroll said.
“That’s a real positive for us.”
Walker has what Carroll has described an unusual injury to a small area on the inside of his ankle, not a sprain. He’s likely to miss his second practice in a row Thursday.
The second-round draft choice from Michigan State has nine rushing touchdowns in the 7 1/2 games since replacing Penny as lead back. Penny broke his fibula in early October at New Orleans and is out for the season.
Walker is scrapping to return this weekend, though that may not be the wisest move. Four days after they play the Panthers the Seahawks host the 49ers in what could be a division-deciding game, Dec. 15 at Lumen Field.
“He’s doing everything that he can. He’s rehabbing all day long, every day, and doing everything that he can to get right,” Carroll said.
As for Walker possibly playing this weekend the coach said, “I don’t know that yet.”
Carroll said at the beginning of the week Dallas’ injury is something like a ligament strain. He could barely walk after the game in Inglewood, California, last weekend.
He’s told Carroll and the Seahawks he’s playing Sunday. But he didn’t practice Wednesday and Thursday.
“If you talk to him, he does (think he’s playing),” the coach said. “He was kind of bouncing around (Wednesday). So, he didn’t take any snaps in walk through (or the main practice), but his attitude is exactly what you want. He’s determined to get back. So, we’ll see what happens.”
Jones played without much eyesight after a Rams defensive back knocked out one of his contact lenses.
He gained a key first down in the second half of Seattle’s comeback win being able to generally see blue jerseys versus his team’s white. The football on passes in the air from Geno Smith? That was an issue. Jones didn’t react well to one, and former Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner ripped the ball from Jones for an interception.
“They didn’t have a spare (set) for him. I was like, ‘What are you talking about? Where’s the spare?’” Morton said.
“He was like, ‘I haven’t been playing, so I never asked for another set.’”
As the Seahawks entered the weekend, it appeared Homer, Jones, and perhaps Thompson and Gallman on practice-squad call-ups could be Seattle’s backs against Carolina Sunday.
Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron says the Seahawks’ game plan won’t change against the Panthers’ 25th-ranked rush defense.
“No. I think Chad Morton has done a nice job. We have a lot of good backs in our program right here, a lot of guys who have gotten different reps throughout the course of the week,” Waldron said, “and really starting with the guys up front, the tight ends, receivers, and everyone else doing a great job in the running game.
“Whoever’s number is called and whoever is healthy and ready to go, I feel confident in any of those guys to get it done.”
This story was originally published December 9, 2022 at 5:02 AM.
