The Seahawks were on the practice field as an entire team for the first time since the end of last season, and among those participating were a few of players who made quick comebacks from injuries—most notably linebacker K.J. Wright and tight end Will Dissly—as well as receiver John Ursua, who is back from the Reserve/Covid-19 list after a false positive.
Wright, the Seahawks' longest tenured player, had shoulder surgery in the offseason and there had been some concern he would not be ready for the start of camp, but Wright was out there at his usual weakside linebacker spot next to Bobby Wagner on Wednesday.
"It's a marvelous return," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He's raring to go. We anticipated that he could quite likely go on (the Physically Unable to Perform list), he cleared his physical with flying colors. We'll still look after him and take care of him, but he's in great shape."
Dissly, who ruptured his Achilles last October, was another potential PUP list candidate heading into the offseason, but he too passed his physical and was on the field catching passes from Russell Wilson.
Ursua, meanwhile, posted the required two negative COVID-19 tests following a positive that put him on the reserve list over the weekend, and Carroll confirmed that means he can be back with the team with the initial result counting as a false positive.
Not present Wednesday was running back Chris Carson, though that was due not to the hip injury that cut short his 2019 season, but rather a family issue he's tending to back home.
"Chris has got some family stuff going on that he's had to take care of," Carroll said. "Our hearts go out to Chris, he's going through some really big stuff with family members that he's looking after and taking care of. He's fine and all that, it has nothing to do with Chris physically or anything, but he has to take care of this at this time right now. I'm not sure how many more days it's going to be before he takes care of all of that business, but they're trying to figure it all, and it's back home too, so he's a ways away. So we've got some stuff to work out, and we're in full support of what he's got to do to get this done."
Also not practicing for now is cornerback Quinton Dunbar, who came off the commissioner's exempt list earlier this week, but still has to go through more COVID-19 testing before he can take his physical Friday then make a return to on-field work.
Once Dunbar, who was acquired in an offseason trade with Washington, is able to go, Carroll is excited to see what he can add to the secondary: "He's a good football player. He's a playmaking guy, very creative, really good consistency over his years, he's good size, really good tackler—I think he didn't miss a tackle last year or something crazy like that. So he just adds to the competition, should make us better. He's going to put the pressure on our guys to step up once he gets going. He's a ways behind right now because he's missing this time, and we need to make sure he's in good shape, get him started well, but very competitive player. We're just trying to get a little bit better at a lot of places, and he might help us do that."
Second-round pick Darrell Taylor was present at Wednesday's practice, but the defensive end isn't yet participating as he continues to recover from the leg injury he played through last season, one that led to surgery following his final season at Tennessee.
"We've got to see," Carroll said. "He wasn't ready to go. There's no damage to his knee, he's just got to get back from the work he has been doing. I'm not sure how long it's going to take. He has done some treatments and things that take a week or so to take hold and all of that, he got good response from that so far. I'm hoping that in another couple of weeks we'll know he's ready to get back in it and go. They're working with him right now—he's dying to get back and all—but it's just not quite right. So we've just got to take our time and make sure that once he gets back, he's back for good."
Fellow 2020 draft pick Colby Parkinson was also sidelined Wednesday due to a foot injury sustained during the offseason, but the tight end out of Stanford could be close to a return.
"He's doing great," Carroll said. "He's ripping back here, he might have a chance here pretty quick to get back out. He's making really good progress, his foot feels fine."
