Jordyn Brooks off PUP list. Doesn’t mean he or Jamal Adams will play in Seahawks’ opener
Jordyn Brooks is back practicing, sooner than expected.
That doesn’t necessarily mean he — or Jamal Adams — are going to be ready to play by the start of this Seahawks season.
“Well, anything could happen,” coach Pete Carroll said.
That was after Brooks came off the physically-unable-to-perform list to participate in a relatively mental, walkthrough practice Tuesday morning.
Carroll’s tone and words Tuesday were far from a declaration that Brooks, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee 7 1/2 months ago, will be at linebacker when Seattle hosts the Los Angeles Rams in the opening game Sept. 10.
“We’re talking what...three weeks from now? Maybe,” Carroll said.
The coach was less optimistic about Adams.
Carroll was asked if the team’s $70 million safety will be back from his torn quadriceps tendon he got in September 2022 in time to play in Seattle’s opener.
“I don’t...he’s not quite as far along (as Brooks),” Carroll said.
Adams and Brooks trained together at the same physical-rehabilitation center in Frisco, Texas, outside Dallas this spring and summer. The Seahawks allowed them to stay there during the team’s offseason training program, to continue the progress they were making.
“His injury was a little worse than mine,” Brooks said, echoing Carroll.
Brooks said he and Adams competed with each other during their rehabs. They raced in 40-yard dashes.
“Of course, I beat him,” Brooks said, grinning.
Brooks tore his ACL Jan. 1 playing against the New York Jets. An ACL tear typically takes nine to 12 months to return from into full competition, if then.
He was asked if he thinks he will be able to play in the opener 3 1/2 weeks from now.
“The way I’m feeling now, I think I would,” Brooks said.
“Where I’ll I play, I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Oh, yeah, there’s that.
Brooks’ position last season, inside linebacker and signal caller of the defense, is now Bobby Wagner’s again. Brooks moved last year from outside linebacker, where he’d played for his first two NFL seasons as Seattle’s first-round draft choice in 2020, to inside linebacker last season. That was after the Seahawks released Wagner in March 2022 to save $16 million in salary-cap space for last year.
After one season playing for the Rams, Wagner signed back with Seattle this offseason. The six-time All-Pro has made it clear he’s going to be calling the defensive signals again this season. And at age 33, Wagner isn’t sitting on any bench during games.
The Seahawks also signed free-agent inside linebacker Devin Bush from Pittsburgh this spring, as insurance with Brooks recovering. Bush and Wagner have been the starting inside linebackers since the first day of offseason practices in May.
When he does return, perhaps into September or October, will Brooks be inside again? Or will he back to the outside spot in which he set the Seahawks’ season record for tackles in 2021?
Tuesday, he was just glad to be on a field again, even in a no-real-running walkthrough in the morning. That’s what Brooks will be doing for the time being.
“I’m just here to play football. It doesn’t matter where they put me, as long as they put me on the field,” Brooks said. “I’m not worried about where I’m playing at.”
When asked if he needs to play in one of Seattle’s final two preseason games to get ready to play again for real, for the first time since he tore his ACL Jan. 1 playing against the New York Jets, the fourth-year veteran scoffed.
“No,” he said. “I’m not playing in preseason games.
“Get in football shape, that’s the biggest thing (I need). Getting conditioned. Getting used to 12-play drives or six-play drives and running around in pads. Getting used to that feeling again is going to be the biggest part.”
This story was originally published August 15, 2023 at 5:57 PM.
