Seahawks Rule Out 5 Players For SNF Road Battle at Commanders

Seattle Seahawks safety Julian Love (20) against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

RENTON, Wash. - After suffering a setback during the team’s bye week, the Seattle Seahawks will officially be without Julian Love for a marquee Sunday Night Football matchup against the Washington Commanders as he continues to deal with a significant hamstring injury.

Along with Love missing his fourth consecutive game and fifth overall this season, Seattle also ruled out receiver Jake Bobo (Achilles), receiver Dareke Young (quad), tight end Eric Saubert (calf), and guard Christian Haynes (pectoral), with the latter not to be one of the team’s inactives on Sunday since he has yet to be activated from injured reserve and returned to practice this week. In addition, receiver Cooper Kupp (hamstring) and defensive tackle Jarran Reed (wrist) both received questionable designations and will be game time decisions.

Originally injured during a Week 2 win against the Steelers, Love returned to play in Week 4 for a Thursday night battle against the Cardinals, only to reaggravate his hamstring injury late in a 23-20 win in Glendale. He missed the next three games as he continued to rehab the injury and heading into the bye, coach Mike Macdonald indicated he would have a great chance to be back for Week 9.

Unfortunately, as Macdonald made known on Monday, Love tweaked the hamstring again last week, putting his status “in jeopardy” for Sunday night. After not practicing at all this week, the Seahawks have kept injured reserve on the table for consideration, though no move had been made as of Friday afternoon.

With Love out once again, the Seahawks will turn to Ty Okada, who will make his fifth start of the season thus far. Rookie Nick Emmanwori will also be in line for some snaps as a safety along with seeing action in the slot, while D’Anthony Bell also will suit up as an option in sub-packages.

At the receiver position, with Young already sidelined and possibly heading to injured reserve with a quad strain, Macdonald said both Bobo and Kupp suffered injuries during practice this week, indicating the former luckily didn’t suffer a rupture or tear and would not be an injured reserve candidate. As for Kupp, after already being listed with a heel injury, he tweaked his hamstring on Thursday and didn’t practice on Friday, putting his status up in the air for this weekend.

“Hopefully those guys will be back soon and we’ll get some guys ready to go to have a great opportunity in front of them,” Macdonald said.

With those three players all banged up and Young and Bobo already ruled out, the Seahawks could use both of their practice squad elevations this week at the receiver position to fill the gap. Veteran Cody White as well as rookies Ricky White III, Tyrone Broden, and Courtney Jackson would all be options, with Jackson being a wild card to watch due to his kick and punt return ability.

Capping off the final injury report, Saubert will miss his first game of the season after not practicing at all this week. Brady Russell will slide in as Seattle’s third tight end behind AJ Barner and Elijah Arroyo, while Macdonald confirmed rookie fullback Robbie Outzs would be activated from injured reserve after missing four games with an ankle sprain. An additional roster move, likely an injured reserve designation, will need to be made to add him back onto the 53-man roster by Saturday afternoon.

If there’s good news for the Seahawks, while Love will have to wait at least one more week to return to the field, the Seahawks will welcome back standout cornerback Devon Witherspoon after missing the past four games with a bruised knee. The former top-five pick was a full participant at practice this week and didn’t receive a designation, so he should be back in the starting lineup seeing action both as a boundary defender and in the slot.

“I’m excited for him. I think our team is excited to play with him again,” Macdonald said of Witherspoon. “He’s one of the guys that just adds such great energy and competitiveness and spirit to our defense. To his credit, you felt him on the sideline when he wasn’t playing. Him and all those guys who haven’t been playing have been awesome helping the guys out between and cheering them on from the sidelines. It’ll be great to have him out there.”

Seattle will also have outside linebacker Derick Hall back in the pass rushing rotation following two missed games with an oblique injury. He practiced in limited fashion on Wednesday and Thursday before jumping up to full participation on Friday, setting the stage for him to suit up for the first time in nearly a month, giving the team another viable option to hunt quarterback Jayden Daniels.