RENTON — The Seahawks have listed free safety Tedric Thompson (hamstring) and defensive tackle Poona Ford (calf) as doubtful for the game Sunday against the Steelers, meaning Seattle could be without two players who started on defense in the opener against the Bengals.
And if Thompson cannot play, coach Pete Carroll hinted strongly that Lano Hill, a three-year veteran out of Michigan who was a third-round draft choice in 2017, will get the start in his place alongside Bradley McDougald.
Listed as out were receiver David Moore (shoulder) and center Joey Hunt (ankle).
Also listed as doubtful is cornerback and special-teams captain Neiko Thorpe (hamstring). Doubtful officially means that a player is unlikely to play (the NFL did away with strict percentages of the chances that a player will play in 2016).
And listed as questionable is defensive end Ziggy Ansah (shoulder), though Carroll said he will be a game-time decision after practicing fully Thursday and Friday.
“He’s almost there,” Carroll said of Ansah who has a clause in his contract giving him $93,750 for every game he is on the 46-man game-day active roster. “He may be there. We’ll find out if we can get him to play this week. He’s getting really close. If he doesn’t go this week he certainly has a great chance to go next week.”
But the rest of the roster is considered good to go, a list that includes first-round draft choice L.J. Collier, a defensive end who appears on track to make his first NFL appearance Sunday, as well as receiver Tyler Lockett and center Justin Britt, who each sat out practice Wednesday but returned to practice later in the week.
Carroll said Lockett simply suffered back spasms Wednesday. “Woke up with them,” Carroll said. “Just slept wrong. He’s fine.”
Britt had been dealing with a knee injury suffered against the Bengals but practiced fully Thursday and Friday.
If Thompson can’t play — and that he did not practice all week would indicate it’s a long shot he would — then the Seahawks likely will use Hill and McDougald, a pairing the team used for the final two regular-season games of 2018, victories over the Chiefs and Cardinals before Hill suffered a hip injury that required surgery and held him out until midway through the preseason. In that alignment, Hill plays strong safety and McDougald moves to free.
“If he gets a chance to play, he’s ready to go,” Carroll said of Hill. “We all remember that he finished really well last year and he’s jumped right back at it. He’s ahead of where he was in terms of just awareness of the schemes and what is asked of him and all that so we are very comfortable with him playing.”
Hill has started only two games in his career, but Carroll said the two games at the end of last season showed a lot of promise.
“We thought he was the best tackler in the draft when he came out and he has not disappointed since then,” Carroll said Friday. “So he’s got all of the right stuff. He just needed to grow up with us and we feel like he has had the time to do that.”
Rookie Marquise Blair, a second-round choice out of Utah, also could see playing time if Thompson is out, but the thought is that Hill’s experience would make him the first man up at that spot if Thompson can’t go.
Carroll essentially said that when asked about Blair, saying, “He’s a really good player. It’s just a matter of time before he works his way in. But we don’t need to rush it. We are in good shape and we like playing with the experience when you can and we have some guys who have been around us who are a little bit ahead of him.”
Thompson started at free safety against the Bengals but had a critical misplay on a Hail Mary pass late in the first half that led to a 55-yard touchdown. Carroll declined to say early in the week if the team would look to make a change at safety in the wake of that game. But Thompson’s injury might mean it will happen regardless. Carroll said Thompson suffered the injury in the Cincinnati game.
Ford’s backup is listed as undrafted rookie free agent Bryan Mone, who saw his first NFL action last weekend against the Bengals, playing 26 snaps. But Seattle also could use Quinton Jefferson at tackle in some alignments, as well (Jefferson is officially listed as a tackle by the Seahawks).
Carroll, though, seemed to indicate it’s not a given that Collier will play even if healthy saying it could depend on the team’s defensive plan against the Steelers. The Seahawks also will consider that Collier has yet to see action in either the preseason or the regular season after suffering an ankle injury July 30
“He’s ready to play in this game if we want to put him up (on the active roster),” Carroll said. “He can go. He had a great week and that’s a really good return for him. … In our minds he can play, just got to wait and see what the rotations would be if we put him up.”
Also healthy is rookie cornerback Ugo Amadi, who suffered a shoulder injury last Sunday when he got the start at nickel. But while Amadi is healthy, the Seahawks might go with veteran Jamar Taylor at nickel this week after he was re-signed Tuesday.
Carroll seemed to confirm that saying that Taylor “did really well” in practice this week. “He’s ready to play.”
It’s thought Seattle will play nickel defense more this week against the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger than against the Bengals, when Seattle was in a base defense for 55 of 77 snaps.
Ansah also was listed as questionable before the 21-20 victory over the Bengals and then after an on-field workout prior to the game was declared as inactive.
Ansah practiced fully Thursday for the first time all season. But last week he experienced soreness in his shoulder — he had surgery to repair a torn labrum after playing just seven games for the Lions last season — after practicing that led to the decision to have him inactive on game day.
Carroll also said left guard Mike Iupati practiced fully all week and is ready to make his Seahawks debut. Iupati did not play in the preseason while battling foot and calf injuries with Ethan Pocic starting at left guard, instead. While Carroll said earlier in the week that Iupati would start at left guard once healthy, he declined Friday to say that Iupati will start Sunday.
But Pocic was listed on the injury report Friday with a neck issue — though he practiced fully — which could help open the door for Iupati to take over. Iupati is a four-time Pro Bowler who signed in the spring as a free agent after Seattle lost the starter last year at that spot, J.R. Sweezy. The two essentially just switched with Sweezy signing with the Cardinals, the team Iupati played for the last four years.
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