Seahawks coach Pete Carroll says ‘clarity’ coming soon to the status of injured safety Kam Chancellor

Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Friday there could be some “clarity” soon to the longterm status of strong safety Kam Chancellor, who was officially ruled out for Sunday’s game at San Francisco with a neck injury suffered Nov. 9 at Arizona.

The 49ers game will be the second Chancellor will miss with the injury, which has led to reports that won’t play again this year and could soon be placed on Injured Reserve.

That hasn’t happened yet as Chancellor remains on the team’s active 53-man roster.

But Carroll hinted that may change in the coming days.

Carroll said Friday that Chancellor “pretty much has the information he needs at this point’’ in understanding what is going on with his neck.

Asked if there could be some clarity soon on Chancellor and defensive end Cliff Avril, who remains on IR with a similar injury, Carroll said “there will be some clarity, yes. We are just respecting their process and what is right for them and so we just continue to kind of just report where they are right now and leave it at that.  There will be some things happening before too long.’’

The Seahawks may not have felt an urgency to put Chancellor on IR this week since the team appears unlikely to have more than six other players who will miss the game due to injury (seven have to be declared inactive on gameday) and there could also be salary cap implications in the timing.

Seattle will go into the 49ers game without three of what had become four it its starting defensive backs — cornerback Richard Sherman is out for the year with an Achilles injury and rookie cornerback Shaquill Griffin will sit out the game with a concussion suffered Monday.

Carroll said Griffin “is fine now” but didn’t have time to pass all of the steps in the NFL’s official concussion protocol.

“He is going to have to sit this week and we will see him next week,” Carroll said.

Without Griffin, the Seahawks will go with Byron Maxwell as the starting right cornerback with Jeremy Lane replacing Sherman on the left side.

“We are fortunate to have Jeremy coming back in to start and Byron has looked really good,” Carroll said. “He had another good week of work with us, he looks like he is back on track with what we remember him to play like and be like and so we couldn’t be more fortunate in that regard, that we have experienced guys coming back out. If you lose Sherm and you pick up Byron Maxwell in the way that we like to see him play, we feel very fortunate.”

NOTES

— Running back Mike Davis is listed as doubtful and seems unlikely to play. But Carroll said he ran well on Friday and didn’t totally rule out he could play saying “we’ll see.’’ But the team has gone through the week with the idea that its tailbacks for Sunday will be Eddie Lacy, Thomas Rawls and J.D. McKissic.

— Defensive end Dion Jordan has been limited in practice this week with a stinger suffered Monday but Carroll said he’ll play against the 49ers. “He just had a little shoulder issue that came out of the game,” Carroll said. “It didn’t bother him right away but he felt a little bit of stuff during the week here. He could practice some. We rested him today thinking that he is going to play in the game so we are just taking care of him.”

— Tight end Jimmy Graham (ankle) and middle linebacker Bobby Wagner (hamstring) were each listed as questionable but Carroll intimated each will play. “Jimmy did the work we needed to do today,’’ Carroll said. “Bobby didn’t get any work today but yet his workouts that he has done shows that he has a great chance to play.” Wagner has dealt with the hamstring issue for a few weeks but has continued to play.

— Linebackers D.J. Alexander (shoulder) and Michael Wilhoite (calf) are also listed as questionable but Carroll also said each will play.

— Defensive tackle Jarran Reed, who sat out last week with a hamstring injury, will play against the 49ers, Carroll said.

— Carroll said cornerback DeShawn Shead, who is on the Physically Unable to Perform list due to a knee injury suffered last January, is getting ever closer to returning to practice and could play this season. The team can activate Shead to practice at any time and he can then practice for up to three weeks before the team would have to put him on the 53-man roster. “He is making a jump,’’ Carroll said. “ We are excited about this.  This next week coming up will be a change for him.  He is getting closer and he has kind of made it.  This has kind of been a threshold for him this week… He has been busting his butt for so long to get this back.  It doesn’t mean he jumps right back on the field, but he takes a big step next week to get closer to doing that.  So he has a chance, hopefully before the end of the season, to get back.”