LEGION OF GLOOM
Seahawks not ready to comment on star safety’s long-term prospects despite dire report
Seahawks defence facing the possibility of being without one of their key players — star safety Kam Chancellor — for the rest of the 2017 season
The Seahawks have officially declared strong safety Kam Chancellor as out for Monday night’s game against Atlanta due to a neck injury suffered Nov. 9 at Arizona.
Whether Chancellor could be sidelined longer — and possibly even for the season, as was reported Saturday morning by the NFL Network’s Mike Garafalo — the team is not yet ready to say.
“We’re still looking at what our options are, and we’ll continue to do that and re-evaluate what’s going on,” coach Pete Carroll said following Saturday’s practice. “We’re working really closely with him on that.
Along with the NFL.com story that Chancellor is “expected” to miss the season, ESPN also reported that Chancellor will likely be placed on injured reserve, which would officially sideline him for the final seven games of the regular season (players on IR have to miss at least eight before possibly returning).
Carroll, though, said the team hasn’t determined if a roster move will be made soon.
“Not yet,” he said. “Maybe something (later) but not yet.” There were no roster moves listed for the Seahawks on the official NFL transactions wire Saturday.
Asked if the injury could put Chancellor out for the season, Carroll similarly hedged.
“We’ll wait and see, we’ll just wait and see,” Carroll said. “We’re working through it like I said, and we’re hanging together, and just trying to talk our way through it and not have to do anything any faster than we have to. We’ll just wait and see.”
Chancellor has not been at practice all week while undergoing tests to determine the severity of the injury, which apparently occurred on a tackle of Arizona running back Andre Ellington with just over two minutes left, though he was back at practice on Saturday watching from the sidelines in sweats.
This is now the second time this season the Seahawks have had to go through a process of assessing a star veteran player battling a neck injury that caused stingers. Defensive end Cliff Avril was placed on Injured Reserve last month with a similar issue amid speculation that his career could be over.
Carroll, though, said that while the situations of Avril and Chancellor are similar “it’s not the same injury.”
The Seahawks would have to add another player to the 53-man roster by Sunday for that player to be eligible for the game Monday night.
But Seattle has just three players it has declared as out for Monday — Chancellor, offensive lineman Luke Joeckel and linebacker Michael Wilhoite — and just two others as questionable (offensive lineman Duane Brown and defensive tackle Jarran Reed). So with having to declare seven players as inactive anyway the Seahawks may feel no urgency to make a roster move with Chancellor just yet.
Chancellor tweeted an apparent response to the reports that broke Saturday morning stating “The best is yet to come. Thank you for all the prayers and messages. Gods Grace is all you can ask for.”
ESPN reported ominously that the injury might comp el Chancellor, who turns 30 on April 3, to evaluate if he can play beyond this season.
“Kam is still looking to play (next season),” the source told (ESPN’s Josina) Anderson, as reported in the ESPN story. “Neck injuries are serious. … (Chancellor) will continue to be evaluated in hopes of getting him ready next year.”
That Chancellor is at least out for the Atlanta game and possibly longer is another blow to and a quick reshaping of the team’s famed Legion of Boom secondary as the Seahawks will already be without cornerback Richard Sherman, who suffered a season-ending Achilles tendon injury in the same game.
Bradley McDougald is expected to start at strong safety Monday in place of Chancellor. Delano Hill took Chancellor’s place for the final two minutes of the game at Arizona. However, with free safety Earl Thomas back for the Atlanta game, McDougald will slide into the strong safety spot held by Chancellor.
Sherman’s spot be filled by Jeremy Lane, who was traded for a day to Houston last month as part of the Duane Brown trade before the Texans’ failed his physical and the deal was amended.