Cooper Kupp may play, may have to. Great time for Seahawks’ Rashid Shaheed trade
Great thing for the Seahawks they traded for Rashid Shaheed this week.
Because they are wafer-thin at wide receiver for this weekend.
Veteran Cooper Kupp is questionable, rookie Tory Horton coming off a two-touchdown game is doubtful, plus Jake Bobo and Dareke Young are out for Seattle (6-2) Sunday and its NFC West game against the Arizona Cardinals (3-5) at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., CBS television, KIRO-7 locally).
Lead tight end AJ Barner is questionable with a calf injury, though he practiced fully Friday. Middle linebacker Ernest Jones, the defense’s signal caller, is doubtful to play Sunday.
Pro Bowl veteran safety Julian Love is already on injured reserve. So safety and linebacker are two other shallow spots for this game. Cornerback Josh Jobe will miss the game. He is still in the NFL concussion protocol.
Other than that, the Seahawks are tip-top.
“We’re working through everything right now,” coach Mike Macdonald said following practice Friday. “We’ve got a lot going on...a lot of variables moving.”
The Seahawks could be putting players — Young? Bobo? — on injured reserve and sign wide receiver Cody White off the practice squad rather than elevate him off the practice squad for Sunday, as they did last weekend before White caught his first career touchdown pass in Seattle’s blowout win at Washington. Seattle has until 1 p.m. Saturday to make roster moves that would allow players to play this Sunday.
“Frankly, we’re still figuring things out,” Macdonald said. “I can’t tell you who exactly is going to be up and who’s not. We’re still working through all that right now.”
Kupp may play Sunday. He almost has to. He practiced on a limited basis Thursday then fully on Friday.
He missed last weekend’s game at Washington. That was the first time he’s been out after seven straight starts (24 catches, one target) to begin this season. He injured his hamstring in practice last week, on top of a heel injury.
Macdonald made it sound as if the 32-year-old former Super Bowl MVP with the Los Angeles Rams will play against the Cardinals.
“Coop’s an animal. He’s great,” Macdonald said. “It’s impressive to see what he’s willing to do to go play a game. It means a lot to him.”
Rashid Shaheed’s debut
Shaheed and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL’s leading receiver, are the only two healthy wide receivers on Seattle’s 53-man roster.
The 27-year-old Shaheed arrived Wednesday. The Seahawks traded a fourth- and a fifth-round draft choice to New Orleans to acquire him Tuesday. He will make his Seattle debut Sunday.
Macdonald said Shaheed has nailed down the game plan at wide receiver, and he will be involved in Seattle’s kick-return game.
The coach didn’t specify if that will be as a punt or a kickoff returner. Shaheed has done both in his 3 1/2 seasons playing for the Saints. He’s been spending time at the start of practices fielding Michael Dickson’s punts this week.
Horton has been the Seahawks’ primary punt returner so far this season.
“He’s doing great. Just keep attacking it,” Macdonald said of Shaheed.
“The prep won’t stop (for him learning the playbook) until all the way through game time.”
Ernest Jones’ situation
Jones has tried to practice this week with a knee injury he got when a lineman fell on him last weekend at Washington.
He didn’t look particularly fluid moving on the knee warming up before practice Thursday. It was something of a surprise he was on the field after what his injury looked like in the first half of the Washington game.
The Seahawks may keep Jones out in hopes he can return next Sunday when they host his former Rams in a game that will be for first place in the NFC West.
If Jones does not play against Arizona, Drake Thomas will again wear the “green-dot” helmet with the speaker to relay Macdonald’s play calls from the sideline to the rest of the defense. Jones does that job typically.
Drake Thomas’ chance, Tyrice Knight’s return
Early this season Thomas took 2024 starter Tyrice Knight’s job as the starting weakside inside linebacker next to Jones. When Jones got hurt in the second quarter at Washington, Thomas moved to Jones’ middle backer spot and Knight was back in at weakside. Then Thomas and Knight alternated positions in the middle during the second half.
Macdonald said that is yet another thing the coaches are figuring out for the Cardinals game Sunday: whether Thomas and Knight will alternate between weakside and middle linebacker again if Jones indeed does not play.
Macdonald had Thomas wearing a green-dot helmet alongside Jones during practices in training camp, and as the middle linebacker in Seattle’s first two preseason games in August, just as a contingency for this situation.
“It is helpful, being in the game already having that experience and knowing what the calls are going to be like, somewhat the environment,” Thomas, a former Las Vegas Raider, said Friday.
“Seattle brings a good environment to the preseason.”
‘Green-dot’ helmet fails
When Thomas entered for Jones in the middle of a drive when Washington was in the red zone late in the first half last weekend, the helmet speaker when he changed out green-dot helmets with Jones failed. So Thomas improvised.
“I wasn’t getting the call,” he said. “So I had to make the calls.”
The Seahawks’ equipment staff fixed the issue for Thomas to call Macdonald’s plays from the coach the entire second half at Washington.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 2:45 PM.
