Field Gulls
Were Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon rushed back too soon from their respective injuries? We don’t have a concrete answer on that front, but even with the “mini-bye” from Week 4’s Thursday game against the Arizona Cardinals, they’re among the notable absences for Sunday’s Week 5 showdown with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Friday’s injury report was virtually unchanged apart from Byron Murphy II being added as a limited participant, but there’s no worry there since he doesn’t carry a game designation. None of Demarcus Lawrence, Josh Jones, Love, or Witherspoon practiced this week, so that quartet will sit out this weekend.
The good news is that rookie Nick Emmanwori is back in the lineup after missing the previous three weeks with an ankle injury. It’s nevertheless a bit frustrating though that the main secondary of Riq Woolen, Josh Jobe, Emmanwori, Love, and Coby Bryant have yet to play a full game together. We’ll see when (or, given Riq’s uncertain future, if) that actually materializes.
In the meantime, expect Ty Okada, D’Anthony Bell, and Derion Kendrick to again all be factors on Sunday while two key secondary starters are out. Demarcus Lawrence’s absence is not unexpected, but the good news is Uchenna Nwosu is coming off a two-sack game and looked sharp versus Arizona. Seattle has undrafted free agent rookie Jared Ivey available if they want to dig a little deeper in the depth chart for help up front.
