DeShawn Shead, Dion Jordan close to returning to practice for Seahawks

As per usual, the Seattle Seahawks need better depth at cornerback and defensive end. They could be getting it soon with two players who have been on the roster all year but have not been healthy enough or eligible enough to compete. That will officially change next week, though practically could come a week or two after that.

Cornerback DeShawn Shead (ACL) and defensive end Dion Jordan (knees) are both eligible to return to practice next week. Shead would be coming off of the PUP while Jordan is on the NFI, alongside rookie Malik McDowell (concussion). Coach Pete Carroll said that it is unlikely that Shead and Jordan would be practicing next week, but that their actual returns probably won’t come soon after their game against the New York Giants, following the bye this week.

The Seahawks are currently rolling out Justin Coleman alongside Shaquill Griffin due to the injury to Jeremy Lane that kept him out of last week’s win over the LA Rams. Shead started 21 games opposite of Richard Sherman before tearing his ACL in the playoffs last year, so he could be more than just depth when he does return from injury — he could end the year as the starter.

Seattle is having similar issues at defensive end, where Cliff Avril (neck) has an indefinite injury timeline and Michael Bennett is dealing with a foot problem that happened against the Rams. It is far less likely that Jordan will have a major impact — after all, he hasn’t played since 2014 and when he did play, he wasn’t good — but the former third overall pick out of Oregon has been kept around for some reason, and is at least worth a look, perhaps a better look than some of the other defensive line options that would be available at this point in the year. That being said, Branden Jackson had a very solid game in LA after having been called up from the practice squad to fill-in the vacant spot left by Avril and Quinton Jefferson (broken hand).