The Seahawks are expecting to have running back Alex Collins available for Monday's game against the Saints despite a groin injury that caused him to be held out of practice Thursday and Friday, and that had him listed as questionable on Saturday's injury report.

"He looked good today so he's ready to go," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after Collins was a limited participant in Saturday's practice. "We were planning on giving him a break on the first day anyway, we just gave him one more just to bounce back and he looked fine, so he'll be part of the rotation."

If Collins isn't at 100 percent, the Seahawks won't necessarily have to lean on him as much as they have the last two weeks, because Rashaad Penny is expected to be activated from injured reserve ahead of Monday's game.

"He's ready go to," Carroll said of Penny. "He's really mentally right and really excited about it. He's like a little kid wanting to play football. But most of all, he wants to help his team. He really does. He feels that sense of responsibility and he wants to help us. So he'll get his chance; we're excited about him playing."

Also listed as questionable is defensive end Darrell Taylor, and Carroll said it's looking like Taylor has a good chance to play, though they still want to see how his sore neck responds to Saturday's workload. Taylor is trying to make it back without missing a game despite a scary injury in last week's game that led to him being carted off the field and taken to a local hospital for tests that showed the injury was fortunately not serious.

"He practiced today too," Carroll said. "Let's just wait until we get all the way gametime and see if everything works out OK. I think he's doing really well, he's anxious to play and excited about that. I'll be surprised if he doesn't, but we'll just make sure. The work he did today was the most work he did this week and let's just see how he comes back tomorrow."

Left guard Damien Lewis, who left last week's game with a shoulder injury, was limited in practice Saturday and will be a game-day decision.

"He went through walkthrough today, and we've got to wait and see," Carroll said. "He'll go to gametime. We can't call it yet."

Cornerback Sidney Jones IV, who was on the injury report this week with a concussion, is cleared to play, though Carroll declined to say whether he will start again at left cornerback or if Tre Brown, who played well in Jones' absence, will start.

Also good to go this week is receiver DK Metcalf, who has missed a day in practice each of the past two weeks with a foot injury.

Asked about that foot injury, Carroll said, "We're anxious to get to the (bye week) and see what happens. He worked beautifully today and he's ready to go again. We've just got to make sure we don't overdo where he's going to have to miss some time; he hasn't had to yet. This is just the rhythm of the weeks to kind of learn what it takes to keep him at his best. So we're working directly with him and listening to him, and he's working really well with our trainers and all to make sure that we communicate all of that stuff really well."

Carroll also gave updates on two players still on injured reserve, receiver Dee Eskridge and running back Chris Carson.

On Eskridge, Carroll said, "He traveled this week, he was doing some special work outside of here, and I haven' seen him and haven't heard any report on what happened with the work they did. We'll revisit all of that for next week and see where he is."

And on Carson, Carroll said, "He's working really and he's conditioning hard, which is really important right now so that when it's time, he'll be ready to come back. He's not sitting around, he's really working hard at—lifting, strength work, explosion work, he was on the hill yesterday really busting tail, so he's doing good. But I don't have any thought about when the time is."

In non-injury news, Carroll said quarterback Jacob Eason, claimed off waivers earlier in the week, is off to a good start, but said he's not caught up enough to be an option to back up Geno Smith this week, so expect Jacob Luton to be elevated from the practice squad again as was the case last weekend.

"He's a talented athlete," Carroll said of Eason. "You can see why he was the top high school kid in the country. The natural motion, the size, the power in his arm and all that, foot movement, natural athlete, you could see all of that. We actually gave him a lot of work against the defense this week just to see him, just to see what he brings. We'll see what happens, we'll take it one week at a time right now."