Arrow-right Camera
Subscribe now
Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks’ Russell Wilson has MCL sprain; Thomas Rawls out longer than expected

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) walks along the sideline with an ice pack wrapped on his left knee against the San Francisco 49ers in the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, in Seattle. (Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
By Bob Condotta Seattle Times

Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll confirmed during his regular Monday radio show on ESPN 710 Seattle that Russell Wilson has a sprained MCL in his left knee but indicated it doesn’t appear overly serious saying Wilson is moving around and “walking fine” though saying it’s still unclear if he will play Sunday against the New York Jets.

“He feels great,” Carroll said. “He’s s been rehabbing all night and doing his thing and he can move around;walking fine. You can’t tell anything. He’s really excited about the thought that he will be able to maybe make it through this thing.”

Carroll confirmed that an MRI showed an MCL sprain.

“He responded beautifully to it,” Carroll said. “Give him a couple of days and see if anything changes with that. But first report, getting up in the morning, getting up in the middle of the night and doing his rehab turned out exceedingly well.”

But as for whether Wilson will play in New York on Sunday against the Jets, Carroll was a little more vague.

“We’ll see what happens,” Carroll said. “We’re going to the right thing.”

Carroll said the team would take into consideration that the Seahawks have a bye following the game against the Jets.

Carroll, though, also noted that Wilson has already made it clear he wants to play.

“He’s going to will it and only feel that he can do everything,” Carroll said.

Wilson suffered the injury when sacked by San Francisco’s Eli Harold on a play in which Harold was penalized for an illegal horse-collar tackle.

Carroll said one thing that will be taken into consideration is whether Wilson would be at risk of making the injury worse.

“Well, there’s always risk,” Carroll said. “That’s what we are going to determine. And there are accidents that happen, too. So we will gauge all of that and see where we are and make a good decision on it.”

Carroll said Wilson would play with a brace on his knee.

Rookie Trevone Boykin finished up the last quarter-and-a-half after Wilson was sidelined Sunday and would start against the Jets unless the team were to sign someone else. The only other QB on Seattle’s roster is Jake Heaps, who is on the practice squad, having been re-signed after Wilson suffered a high ankle sprain in the first game of the season. Carroll said Wilson’s ankle is no longer a significant factor, saying “he didn’t even feel it at all, so (we’re) almost leaving that in the past.”

Carroll also revealed that additional tests on Thomas Rawls show that he has a fibula injury that will keep him out a few weeks. The NFL Network reported that Rawls has a hairline fracture.

“It’s a little worse than we thought,” said Carroll of an injury Rawls suffered the previous week in a 9-3 loss against the Rams. Carroll initially said Rawls had been kicked in the shin, and said after Sunday’s game against the 49ers that there was a chance Rawls could be back this week.

Instead, Rawls will now be out a few weeks with Carroll saying, “Thomas is going to be out for a little bit.”

Carroll said that will put some urgency on C.J. Prosise to be able to play this week after missing the past two games with a broken bone in his wrist.

With Rawls out, Christine Michael will remain as the team’s starting tailback after rushing for a career-high 106 yards on 20 carries Sunday against the 49ers.

Carroll also said that rookie guard Germain Ifedi could be back this week after having missed the first three games with a high ankle sprain. “Kind of counting on it,” Carroll said. “Expectations are that now he’s ready to go.”