NFL, Seahawks injury roundup: Rash of major injuries coincides with looming trade deadline; Seattle getting healthy?

The NFL injury report from this week is a brutal one. Sam Bradford torn ACL. Reggie Wayne torn ACL. Brian Cushing broken leg and torn LCL. Doug Martin torn labrum. Leon Hall torn achilles. Jermichael Finley neck injury. Jay Cutler groin injury. Nick Foles, Arian Foster, Ben Tate, all injured. With the NFL Trade Deadline rapidly approaching on October 29th, it wouldn't be too surprising to see some movement from injury depleted teams, particularly those with Playoff aspirations.

Obviously, as it relates to the Seahawks, the most impactful injury is the season ending torn ACL of Sam Bradford. The Seahawks are set to square off against the Rams next Monday in St. Louis, and as of right now, the only other quarterback on that roster is veteran Kellen Clemons. I'd expect a flurry of tryouts this week for the Rams, - perhaps guys like Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Tyler Thigpen, Byron Leftwich, John Skelton, David Carr, or Trent Edwards - but it's likely that Clemons will get the start mostly due to familiarity with the playbook.

Past that, Seattle gets an already spiraling Buccaneers team the following week, and there's a good chance they'll be without star running back Doug Martin in that one. Further down the road - Jimmy Graham's status for the Saints is still pretty hush hush but there are rumors it's worse than we know at this point, so New Orleans' star tight end may have to miss some time - and note the Seahawks play the Saints on December 2nd.

Conversely, there have been multiple reports over the past couple of days that WR Percy Harvin will practice this week and may be available to the team to play against St. Louis Monday. As a source in the Seattle organization told Jason La Canfora, "I can't put my hand on a Bible as we speak and say, ‘Yeah, he's going to play next week', but there's certainly a chance."

Particularly with the news that Bradford will miss the rest of the season, I'm guessing that Seattle will not play Percy this upcoming week, and will instead choose to bring him along slowly. It's Pete Carroll's nature to gear up for an end-of-season run (long-term view), and the way they treated the Zach Miller hamstring injury over the past few weeks is a good model. Apparently, Miller was 'good to go' for the Titans game, but the Seahawks held him back just to be safe, finally allowing him back on the field against Arizona on Thursday. As you'd expect, Miller was a huge factor in that game and is a huge factor in the offense, so it's not like Seattle would treat their 'star' players' injuries any differently than those of a role player.

Also on the injury-front for Seattle, the impending return of Russell Okung should be a huge boon for the offense. I believe he's eligible to return as soon as the November 17th game against the Vikings. The offensive line has been out of sorts, well, really the whole year, but an anchor like Okung on the left side gives Seattle so much more confidence and flexibility, protection wise.

Similarly, but on a quicker timeframe, with the news that Michael Robinson is likely going to return to the team, the Hawks' rushing ability could see a nice uptick over the next few weeks. My guess is that the Hawks will place Derrick Coleman on the injured reserve because serious hamstring injuries can take weeks or even months to heal. Seattle is not gun-shy with their injured reserve either - you may remember last year when Ben Obomanu was placed on the IR he protested via Twitter that he wouldn't have even been out all that long.

On the defensive side of the ball, it was mentioned by Pete Carroll last week that Greg Scruggs has a chance to return for the Hawks this season (he tore his ACL over the summer). Scruggs fits the Michael Bennett mold, I believe, as an inside-outside nickel pass rusher and could provide some nice depth and insurance there down the home stretch.

As for depth at corner/defensive back, which right now isn't needed but is eminently important for any team, I'm guessing that at some point, Tharold Simon will begin practicing with the team and should be ready to go at some point, and the Hawks also seem very high on DeShawn Shead, as they're paying him active-roster type money while he hangs out on the practice squad. Shead may be a candidate to replace Jeron Johnson on the roster - Johnson re-injured his hamstring in the game on Thursday, per reports, so we'll see how severe that injury was.

Carroll also mentioned last week that Korey Toomer is not close to returning. That's not too big of a deal at this point though, as Seattle's depth at outside linebacker/pass rusher is pretty solid with Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril, Bruce Irvin, O'Brien Schofield, Malcolm Smith, Benson Mayowa, and Mike Morgan.