Seahawks promote running back George Farmer to 53-man roster, while Earl Thomas, DeShawn Shead and Michael Bennett all likely out this week

The Seahawks on Wednesday signed running back George Farmer to the 53-man roster from their practice squad to fill an opening created with the waiving on Tuesday of offensive lineman J’Marcus Webb.

The Seahawks needed to add running back depth with C.J. Prosise out indefinitely with a broken shoulder blade suffered in Sunday’s 26-15 win over the Eagles and Troymaine Pope likely out at least a few weeks with a high ankle sprain.

Farmer, who played primarily receiver at USC, was used as a running back by the Seahawks in training camp before being waived as injured the last week of the preseason. Farmer said he hurt his foot in practice.

Farmer will likely be one of the three tailbacks available for Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay along with Thomas Rawls and Alex Collins.

The Seahawks also signed fullback Malcolm Johnson to the practice squad. Johnson has played in 19 games over the last two years with the Cleveland Browns.

In other injury/personnel news:

• Carroll said it was unlikely that safety Earl Thomas or cornerback DeShawn Shead will be able to play. Each is dealing with hamstring strains. “It’s going to be hard for those guys to make it back,” Carroll said. For Thomas, missing the game would snap a streak of 106 straight starts that is second in Seahawks history and first among defensive players (offensive Chris Gray holds the team record at 121 from 1999-2007). But Carroll said that while Thomas will undoubtedly fight to play that “I think he’s going to be mature about it and go along with the decision. We won’t give him his helmet cause he might go out and play. We’ll take care of him.” Carroll said Steven Terrell will again fill in for Thomas, if needed, and that Jeremy Lane and Neiko Thorpe would again get more playing time at cornerback if Shead is out.
• Carroll said it is also unlikely that defensive lineman Michael Bennett will be able to play. He has not played since having arthroscopic knee surgery following the Arizona game on Oct. 23. “It’s going to be really hard for Mike to make it this week,” Carroll said. “And we were hoping and he was really hopeful but I think it’s going to be really tough. Going to be a big turnaround. Looks more like he would be ready to go next week.” Bennett played for Tampa Bay from 2009-12.
• Carroll said Pope appears to be recovering quickly from a high ankle sprain but didn’t indicate if he has a chance to play this week, with speculation that Pope is likely out a couple of weeks, hence the signing of Farmer. Carroll said Pope was “bouncing around pretty good. Shockingly for a high ankle sprain he was bouncing around today. He’s had a sprain before in the same ankle and lots of times those guys respond differently the second time around, and he is doing just that. So we’ll see what that means. I can’t tell you how far he can go but been really surprised he is doing as well as he is.”
• Carroll said RB Thomas Rawls was set to practice on Wednesday after having taken a lot of hits in Sunday’s game. Carroll said Rawls suffered no specific injuries but just took a lot of punishment in playing 40 snaps and getting 14 carries in his first game since Sept. 18. Carroll called it “typical. He got banged up a little but but he’s already going. He’ll practice this week and we’ll be able to look after him. But I think in normal fashion. He’s really excited to play again.”
• Carroll also said linebackers Brock Coyle and Kevin Pierre-Louis should be able to play this week. Pierre-Louis has been out with an ankle injury, Coyle suffered a sprained foot against the Eagles Sunday.