Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks will be without rookie tight end Elijah Arroyo for the rest of the regular season.
As part of a wave of roster shuffling, Seattle placed the second-round pick on injured reserve after he hurt his knee against the Atlanta Falcons. Arroyo was the intended target on Sam Darnold’s second quarter interception and can be seen limping at the end of the play. The former Miami star has to miss a minimum of four games before he’s eligible to return, and with that many regular season games left, the earliest he can return (if at all) is the playoffs. Arroyo caught 15 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown as the de facto TE2 behind A.J. Barner.
Arroyo’s absence was quickly filled by the return of the newly extended veteran Eric Saubert, who’s back from injured reserve alongside center Jalen Sundell. Both Saubert and Sundell were listed as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, but it seems like they should both be available to play. Rookie defensive lineman Rylie Mills is also on the active roster for the first time, having missed all of the offseason and the first 13 games of the regular season while recovering from his ACL tear suffered last December at Notre Dame. Mills was on the non-football injury (NFI) list since his injury occurred in college and not in the NFL.
It should be noted that, as a correction to what we wrote earlier, Rylie Mills does NOT count against the number of injury designations the Seahawks can have in the regular season. The eight slots only apply to players on injured reserve and not NFI. However, Seattle is down to just two designation spots left for the regular season and there are four players who can come back before the playoffs: Dareke Young (who’s already practicing), Tory Horton, George Holani, and Chazz Surratt. Even with two bonus spots for playoff teams (keeping in mind Seattle hasn’t clinched a berth yet), the addition of Arroyo means that at least one Seahawks player will not be back at all this season.
Lastly, the Seahawks changed up their practice squad and (as expected) signed cornerback Shaquill Griffin and running back Cam Akers. Myles Gaskin and wide receiver Jimmy Holliday were let go in corresponding moves. Griffin and Akers were on the active roster over the past couple of weeks and waived to make room for Saubert and Sundell. Running back/kick returner Velus Jones Jr was activated for a third and final time ahead of the Colts game, and will more or less be RB3 behind Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet.
