Seahawks Vs. Cardinals: Injury Report, Practice Squad, Waiver Wire News & Notes

There has been such a deluge of news, transactions, injury reports, trades, etc. this last week that I felt like a nice little summation would be in order. To start - in case you hadn't realized it quite yet - real, meaningful football is back. With this in mind, let's talk injuries. Golden Tate was held out of practice on Monday and Danny O'Neil reports that Tate could miss 'at least two weeks' with a twisted knee, suffered returning a punt on Thursday. This is bad news for Tate and the Seahawks' offense, as he'd been starting as the team's X-receiver during the preseason. In his place, likely, Braylon Edwards should see a good amount of snaps and don't count the venerable Ben Obomanu, who survived roster cuts once again, to benefit with increased playing time as well.

I haven't heard much about Doug Baldwin, who had blood drained from his hamstring a few weeks back and missed all of the preseason action. I'm assuming he'll be ready to go on Sunday (he says as much on his Twitter account), as of right now, but that is still very much up in the air. If Baldwin is a no-go, look for Charly Martin and Ben Obomanu to pick up the reps in the slot.

James Carpenter, Seattle's first-round pick from 2011, is back at practice and has been medically cleared for full participation. This is huge news, and significantly speeds up a recovery process that many of us thought would last the entire season. Instead, we're likely looking at a week or three for Carpenter to get back up to speed, conditioning and schematically speaking. I wouldn't expect much from him this week, but once he's back to full speed, he could challenge Paul McQuistan for the starting LG job. He noted recently that he's glad to be on the interior, and that he feels it's "where he should be playing," so that's intriguing and encouraging. A strong, mauling, anchoring interior offensive line is of paramount importance to Russell Wilson, as Wilson requires a clean pocket and wide throwing lanes to make up for his height disadvantage. Look for Pete Carroll to update Carpenter's progress later this week.

Evan Moore is now in Seattle and is practicing with the team. He's been issued Kellen Winslow's #82, and spoke with reporters yesterday following practice. In that interview, Moore points out that he was fairly strongly recruited by several teams but wanted to come out to Seattle to play for Pete Carroll. As Scott Enyeart pointed out, Moore went to Brea Olinda HS in Southern California, and coming up in that area, had to have been very familiar with Carroll. Moore was recruited by Carroll's Trojans coming out of High School, Enyeart noted, and even had an SC offer, but Moore chose Stanford over USC and UCLA and as a prep two-sport All-American in football and basketball, he played on both teams for the Cardinal - and keep in mind this was in the days when Stanford balling out in basketball. In 2003, Moore played a reserve role on a Cardinal team that won the Pac-10 title, was ranked No. 1 in the country for several weeks and finished the year with a 30-2 overall record. But, Moore played receiver for the Cardinal as well, along with Doug Baldwin and Richard Sherman (which is funny to think about), and quit hoops in 2004 to concentrate on football. He was signed as an UDFA out of Stanford by John Schneider and the Packers, and they converted him to a tight end.

Waiver Wire Notes:

The Seahawks put in waiver claims for three players over the weekend. Former Texans' OG Shelley Smith, a sixth round pick out of Colorado State in 2010, was targeted, and it makes sense they'd go for a guy that's been playing in Houston's top-tier zone blocking scheme for a couple of years. St. Louis, Washington, Seattle, and Tennessee put in claims for him but he was awarded to the Rams.

The Hawks also tried to claim San Francisco OT Mike Person. Person was a guy the Seahawks had interest in prior to the 2011 Draft and had him out to the VMAC if memory serves, but the Montana State product was drafted by the 49ers in the 7th round. He was awarded to the Colts.

Finally, the Seahawks put in a claim on former Giants RB D.J. Ware. The 27-year old, 6'0, 225 pound back out of Georgia ended up with the Bucs, but I would guess he was going to be replacing Kregg Lumpkin on the roster. That's just a guess, but because they're similar size, it would make sense.

Practice Squad:

The Seahawks settled on a practice squad, after a little shuffling, and we saw Sean McGrath leave and he was replaced by T/G/DT Edawn Coughman. The eight practice squad players, as of right now, are receivers Jermaine Kearse and Ricardo Lockette, offensive linemen Rishaw Johnson and Edawn Coughman, quarterback Josh Portis, safety DeShawn Shead and linebackers Korey Toomer and Allen Bradford.

It's cool to see DeShawn Shead stick, and Korey Toomer and Allen Bradford both cleared waivers and stay with the franchise. Originally, it was reported that Lavasier Tuinei was added to the list but he has recently been replaced by WR/(RB?) Jermaine Kearse. Incidentally, what the hell was all that "Kearse at halfback" business about?

A bit of good(?) news too regarding running back Vai Taua, who cleared waivers and was added to the team's injured reserve. I liked what he brought in the preseason, and he's a logical replacement for the aging fullback stalwart Michael Robinson. Robinson is due $2.5M next year and that's a pretty big haul for a FB, and this team's salary cap management history makes me doubt how secure Robinson's spot will be next season. Taua will probably spend the offseason rehabbing his knee and gaining a little bit of weight. Tight end Cameron Morrah, defensive end Dexter Davis and linebackers Jameson Konz and Matt McCoy were also added to the injured reserve list. I haven't seen if any of these guys were designated for return under the new IR Exemption rule that would allow one player to return after Week 6. That should be announced prior to the game this week.

Allen Barbre is on the suspended list, and Walter Thurmond is the only player on the Seahawks' regular season PUP list. He's eligible to start practicing after Week 6.