RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Tyler Lockett was back catching passes and participating in the Seattle Seahawks walkthrough on Wednesday barely a week after having surgery to stabilize a broken bone in his left hand.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Lockett was able to participate without significant discomfort and both the player and coach are working under the impression Lockett will be able to play this week against the New York Jets.
“If you were watching walkthrough you wouldn’t know anything was going on,” Carroll said. “He just went through and did everything in walkthrough. We’ll be careful with him in practice and make sure that we find out what his limits are. But he looked great throwing and catching and all that stuff.”
Getting Lockett back would be a big boost for Seattle facing a must-win game for its dwindling playoff hopes. The Seahawks’ best bet of finding their way into the postseason is winning their last two games and getting a loss from Washington in one of the final two weeks.
Lockett’s return would also help an offense that struggled badly in the first half last week against Kansas City without him on the field and will be missing tight end Will Dissly likely for the remainder of the season.
“It’s always valuable to have Tyler out there. But you always got to fight through adversity and last week was an adverse situation that we had to fight through it,” Seattle wide receiver DK Metcalf said. “Even though we sputtered in the first half on the offensive side, it was good to see us come out in the second half swinging and being able to run the ball.”
Lockett injured his left hand late in Seattle’s loss to San Francisco on Dec. 15. He underwent surgery on Dec. 19 and missed just the second game in his career because of an injury. Lockett is second on the team in receptions with 78 and leads the team with eight touchdown catches.
“This is a remarkable story and he’s writing it right now for us,” Carroll said. “He’s not even wavering.”
Dissly suffered what was first termed a knee contusion in the loss to the Chiefs, but turned out to be more significant. Carroll termed it an “unusual injury that we have not seen before,” at the top of Dissly’s fibula and where it connects to the knee.
That was the extent of the specifics Carroll had. For now, Dissly won’t need surgery but it remains an option in the future.
“It’s serious enough that it’s going to be a little bit,” Carroll said.
This is likely the third time Dissly’s had a season cut short by injury. He played just four games in his rookie season of 2018 and six in 2019 because of knee and Achilles injuries, but played in 31 of 33 games in 2020-21 and had started every game this season.
Seattle brought back a familiar face in signing Jacob Hollister to the practice squad and also has Tyler Mabry on the practice squad as options as a third tight end for the final two weeks. Seattle has used sets with three tight ends extensively this season.
Carroll also said that running backs Kenneth Walker III (ankle), DeeJay Dallas (ankle), right tackle Abraham Lucas (knee) and wide receiver Marquise Goodwin (wrist) all should be in line to play against the Jets. Seattle also expects to have Al Woods (Achilles) back after missing the past two games.
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