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Bradford Hits IR, and Right Guard Is a Two-Man Job Until the Chiefs Show Up
Anthony Bradford is on injured reserve. Seattle moved its starting right guard Wednesday, and he can’t play again until the Chiefs visit Lumen on Oct. 25. Same knee and hip that got him downgraded to out before Arizona. Macdonald said it isn’t season-ending and expects the timeline to land on the “shorter side,” per Field Gulls.
So right guard belongs to Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens for at least four games. Haynes started at Arizona and played 43 snaps. The fifth-round rookie out of Iowa took the other 27, per SI. The run game went for 162 yards on 40 carries with that setup, so it’s hard to call it broken.
43–27
How Christian Haynes and Beau Stephens split the right guard snaps at Arizona.
My vote: give Haynes the whole thing. He’s in Year 3, he’s healthy, and four straight games is a real audition rather than two series at a time. Stephens will get his turn. Patience is basically the house style on this offensive line.
The roster spot went to a safety, which about sums up how the injuries have been handed out this month. Rodney Thomas II got signed off the practice squad after playing 70 of 71 defensive snaps in the opener and every snap at Arizona. “He’s the guy we thought he was,” Macdonald said, via Seahawks.com. A Yale seventh-rounder who got cut in August is now starting for one of the best defenses in football. Somewhere in New Haven, a guidance counselor is updating the brochure.
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Quarterback
Darnold Is ‘On a Good Track,’ and the Track Ends Friday
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He split first-team reps with Drew Lock. He also skipped the usual early throwing session with Lock and Milroe and caught up during team stretch, throwing passes with a band around his legs. That’s multitasking. That’s also a glute being handled like it’s made of glass.
Asked whether Darnold was fully healthy, Macdonald said he doesn’t know what that means, which is the most honest thing anyone has said about a football body in September. Meanwhile Lock is 35 of 48 with four touchdowns and no picks, fifth in the league in completion percentage by PFF’s numbers. If Darnold gets cleared, Lock’s reward for all that accuracy is a clipboard. Nobody said backup was a fair job.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Zach Charbonnet won’t practice this week after all. Macdonald said Seattle isn’t opening his 21-day window yet, even though it could have. Correct call. Emanuel Wilson just carried it 21 times, so nobody needs to rush a torn ACL back for a job that’s getting done. FantasyPros
No more pitch count for Nick Emmanwori. After a full practice Wednesday, Macdonald said he’ll play “significantly” more snaps against a Washington offense that runs for 157 yards a game with a quarterback who can scramble. Good week to take the leash off. Heavy
Born in the Ivory Coast, raised in Montreal, a second-round CFL pick, 6-foot-4 with a 4.43 forty: meet Malick Meiga, Seattle’s newest practice-squad receiver. Uso Seumalo is back too, for another stint. Somebody get that man a parking spot with his name on it. Heavy
Ernest Jones IV made his first weekly injury report of the year, limited with a neck issue, and Cooper Kupp was limited with a back for the second straight week. Kupp is 33. At that age your back gets a vote. Field Gulls
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Puka Nacua sat out Monday night with what the injury report called a hip. Sean McVay later said it was groin soreness. Then he explained that it’s “almost like pre-hernia”. No hernia, he stressed. Just the teaser. Los Angeles doesn’t know if its best receiver plays Sunday night in Denver, but it has invented a whole new category of injury, and that has to count for something.
NINERS
San Francisco put Brandin Cooks on its practice squad Wednesday, and Niners Wire’s headline called him a “former $81 million WR”. The word “former” is holding up that whole sentence. The same piece says the active depth behind the starters (KhaDarel Hodge, Jacob Cowing, Jordan Watkins) hasn’t proven itself viable. Their words, not mine. I’d never be that rude before Week 3.
CARDINALS
Asked about San Francisco this week, Mike LaFleur got nostalgic about his first year on Shanahan’s staff. They started 0-9, finished 6-10, and he said it felt “almost like throwing a parade” to win six games. Good to know where the bar sits in Glendale. Arizona is 1-1, still owes us ten straight, and just held a pep talk about how fun losing nine in a row can be.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This wide receiver was Seattle’s second-round pick, 49th overall, out of Miami in 1988, made the Pro Bowl in his second season, and played all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Seahawks. Who is he?
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Brian Blades. He finished with 581 catches and 7,620 yards, second only to Steve Largent in franchise history when he retired.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2006
September 24, 2006
Hasselbeck Throws Five and Seattle Is Up 35-3 at Halftime
Twenty years ago today, the Seahawks led the Giants 35-3 at halftime and held on for a 42-30 win. Matt Hasselbeck threw five touchdown passes, tying the club record. The final score makes it look close. It wasn’t.
Got a Question the Rooster Won’t Dodge?
Right guard math, Friday quarterback anxiety, or your theory on what ‘pre-hernia’ means. Send it in. The best ones get answered, and the worst ones get answered even harder.
Two guards, one bench, and a quarterback decision by Friday. Go Hawks. — The Rooster