Seahawks practice impressions: Jarran Reed appears to escape serious injury, Chris Carson returns and more

Chris Carson was again manning the No. 1 running back spot while Jarran Reed was at least back, if not practicing, appearing to show Friday’s injury scare was no big deal.

That and more in our impressions of the fourth practice of Seahawks training camp Sunday:

Reed sits out, but indications are injury is minor

Reed, a fifth-year defensive tackle signed to a two-year, $23 million contract in March, was the big story of Friday’s practice when he left the workout early after appearing to suffer a leg injury of some sort. Reed did not return, and with coach Pete Carroll not speaking to the media again until Monday, info was sparse.

But Reed was at practice Sunday, and while he stayed on the sidelines, he walked around fine without protective wraps or anything, his injury appearing not to be serious.

Others sitting out Sunday included nose tackle Poona Ford, left tackle Duane Brown and receiver David Moore.

Ford had his calf worked on late in Friday’s practice, but like Reed, he was on the sidelines Sunday seeming to move around fine.

Moore was also present but didn’t take part.

Brown has been limited in early workouts and sat out Sunday as the team appears to be taking it easy with the soon-to-be 35-year-old who battled knee and biceps injuries last season.

With Brown out, Cedric Ogbuehi got most of the snaps as the starting left tackle (more on that below).

One receiver who took advantage of Moore’s absence to get some more snaps and make a few plays was Cody Thompson, a second-year player out of Toledo who spent the last two months of last season on Seattle’s practice squad.

Carson makes triumphant return

Carson missed the first three practices to deal with personal matters that included a death in his family.

But he was back Sunday and active throughout, working with the first-team offense.

After one run deep into the Seattle secondary, cornerback Shaquill Griffin shouted at Carson, “We missed you, three-two. We missed you, three-two.”

The team has said throughout the offseason that Carson was expected to be ready for the season after suffering a hip fracture Dec. 22 against Arizona that ended his season, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him run well Sunday.

Still, seeing Carson back in his familiar role had to be a welcome sight for Carroll.

Ogbuehi, Pocic get their turn with first-team offensive line

As noted above, Brown did not practice Sunday, with Ogbuehi filling in for him at left tackle with Jamarco Jones backing up.

Ogbuehi is an obviously intriguing player, having been the 21st overall pick of the 2015 draft by the Bengals but struggling to live up to that billing. He started most of the 2016 and 2017 seasons at right and left tackle, but played just two games in 2018 and then was a backup last season with the Jaguars, getting 155 snaps mostly in a role as an extra offensive lineman/tight end.

That’s the same role George Fant had with the Seahawks so the assumption is Ogbuehi will now fill that role with Seattle. But part of that role means also being the swing backup, able to fill in at either right or left tackle on game day. Ogbuehi appeared to be getting a big chance Sunday to show the Seahawks he can handle that.

Ethan Pocic also appeared to get most of the reps at center with the No. 1 offense, with Pocic in a clear competition with newcomer B.J. Finney for the starting spot. It’s too early to judge anything there, but the Seahawks are undoubtedly going to give their second-round pick in 2017 a long look.

Wright, Brooks taking turns at WLB

The Seahawks made it clear from the minute he was drafted that they intended to throw Jordyn Brooks into competition with K.J. Wright at the weakside-linebacker spot.

And through four days, Brooks has indeed been used often at WLB. On Friday, he got all the snaps with the first-team defense with Wright getting some rest.

But Sunday, Wright was back and usually went with the first team as Brooks ran with the second team, though as happens in camp, there were some drills where Brooks was worked in with the starters.

It’ll be temping to want to read a lot into that early, and the Seahawks undoubtedly hope Brooks plays well enough to force his way onto the field this year (with one possibility being that Wright could be used some at strongside linebacker, though he hasn’t appeared to be used there yet this camp).

But this is another battle that’s going to take some time to figure out.

Shaquem Griffin shows up on run defense

Speaking of linebackers, another intriguing one to watch is third-year player Shaquem Griffin.

Griffin is being used in some pass-rush packages but also as a backup strongside linebacker, and the team’s confidence he could handle all of the requirements at that spot could go a long way toward determining if he makes the roster again.

Griffin turned in the kind of play that will catch the eye of the coaches during a team session when he kept contain on a zone read play forcing Russell Wilson inside. Wilson kept the ball on the play, certainly thinking/hoping he’d influence Griffin to bite and have room to run around the outside.

Instead, Wilson had to duck inside for what would have been no gain, if not a loss, in a real game.

That’s the kind of disciplined play Griffin didn’t always make earlier in his career that could help him stay on the roster this year.