Seahawks will likely need to free up roster spots on Saturday

It’s mid-November, which typically means discussions about playoff positioning typically starts for NFL teams in contention. However, when the Seattle Seahawks return from their bye week on Sunday to take on the Green Bay Packers, it could be more about keeping playoff hopes alive than positioning for the playoffs.

That said, when the two teams take the field Sunday, the Hawks are set to potentially see a whole squad of offensive weapons returning from injured reserve. The names eligible to return against the Packers include future Hall of Fame quarterback Russell Wilson, starting running back Chris Carson and speedy rookie wideout Dee Eskridge. With those three set to return to the roster, the question obviously becomes what moves the Seahawks will make in order to fit that trio of offensive firepower onto the roster.

The first move that is all but guaranteed to happen Saturday afternoon right before 4 PM New York time is Marquise Blair moving to injured reserve. Monday marked two weeks since Blair was lost for the season with a “significant” knee injury suffered against the New Orleans Saints, so fans may wonder why the team has yet to move him to injured reserve, when it’s already known that he is done for the year. That’s a question to ask of the team, but it seems almost a given that Blair will be one of the players moved off the 53 man roster Sunday.

Moving on, with the return of Wilson to the roster there is no need for a third quarterback. Geno Smith did what was asked of him during Wilson’s injured reserve stint, while waiver claim acquiree Jacob Eason never sniffed the field and was only active for Smith’s third start, once Jake Luton was out of practice squad elevations. Thus, it seems extremely likely that Eason will be waived when Wilson is activated from injured reserve.

For the third and final spot, it seem prudent to turn to recent inactives lists for the Hawks to determine how the third spot will be created. The most likely candidate seems to be fourth string tight end Tyler Mabry, who has been inactive for Seattle in two of the last three games, and has logged just six offensive snaps and 26 special teams snaps this season. All six of his offensive snaps came during the Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts when Colby Parkinson was on injured reserve.

So, while the actual moves the team makes won’t be known until Saturday, these appear to be the logical moves for the Hawks to make, even if some fans might want the team to make room by moving on from bigger names that haven’t made many contributions so far this season.