The Seahawks hoped that a bye week could cure their injury woes, but the most impactful injured player on the team is now out for the season.
Seahawks coach Jim Mora announced Wednesday (via Danny O’Neil on Twitter) that left tackle Walter Jones will be placed on injured reserve. The move is not a surprise, but the Seahawks clearly held out some hope that Jones could return this season or he would have been placed on I.R. more quickly.
There has been speculation that Jones’ career could be over. The likely future Hall of Famer said in July that he’ll consider retirement after this season, and his difficulties recovering from microfracture surgery have been well documented.
Seahawks coach Jim Mora wasn’t ready to say Jones is done yet. “It is too early for a career eulogy. . . . We just need to shut him down and reevaluate.”
Jones is due $7.2 million in base salary next season. With Jones’ backup Sean Locklear also likely out this week, newly signed tackle Damion McIntosh is likely to start at left tackle. Seattle’s line was overwhelmed during the team’s last game against the Cardinals.
DMac at LT???? Just put in Seneca now bc Hasselbeck is done for!!!
Maybe Seattle could have used the 4th overall pick for a Left Tackle during the last draft to help with the depth on their O-Line. Oh well, at least there is a top 10 draft pick waiting for them next year.
That stinks for WJ and for Seattle. I’m a Rams fan, and so many have compared Orlando Pace to Jones, but he’s even in the same league with WJ. Walter Jones has to be the best left tackle I’ve ever seen play and a class act, too. We’ll see him at the HOF in 5 years.
DeMarcus Ware should put up big numbers this weekend.
The Seahawks injury woes on the OL the last two years are astounding. They lost their starting LG to IR before the pre-season, their starting LT has been out all season and will now go to the IR. Over the course of the season they have lost their back-up LT (who is their normal starting RT) for about six weeks, their back-up LG, and even their third-string LT. I think the center even missed a few games. Plus they have a rookie starting at RT. Unreal.
I hate to admit it rockotica, but you’re exactly right. It looks like another lost season for us. Damnit!
I hope at least Matt’s daughter gets better.
Tim Ruskell should be fired for ignoring the offensive line during the last few drafts, when it’s been obvious ever since Shaun and Matt were injured in 2006 that we needed serious help on the O-Line. We hired Solari to help, but since then, Ruskell has done NOTHING to bring in quality OL starters. The fact that Walter Jones was even expected to play a single game after his obvious recent decline speaks for itself. It’s time to fire Ruskell and pickup some OL talent in the next draft. And if you’re going to draft for defense, get a safety!!
I don’t feel that it is Ruskell that should be fired, rather, it should be the person in charge of training/conditioning these players. I realize injuries are a part of the game, but no team has had to deal with the rash of injuries that the Seahawks have had over the last 2 years!
Somebody really needs to look at what the Hawks are doing in their training/conditioning department. How can so many guys on this team go down two years in a row? Can one team be this unlucky? This is a leaf that needs to be turned over. These guys have been burning out and breaking down with alarming frequency.
I’m not saying that Walter Jones has been a victim of this. After being the best pass protecting LT for nearly a decade, his knees have just given up the ghost. The guy was the best technician, and he never seemed to be on the ground. The Hawks will have to put some draft picks and free agency money into their O-line this offseason.
Beware of D-Ware! He’s had two sacks in each of the last two games. With a newly inked $78M contract motivating him, he might break the single-game record on Sunday.
“Likely future Hall of Famer”? He’s the best left tackle in the history of football. I think he’s a little more than a “likely” HOFer.
@twinkletoes:
Actually, it’s been 3 years in a row now with all the injuries. 2006 started with Hass and Alexander getting hurt, and it has just been downhill from there. We had major O-Line issues in 2006 as well, and our secondary was just as bad back then as it is now (injuries, blown coverages, etc).
So let’s see… Ruskell has been GM since 2005. In that time, we have struggled with injuries on our o-line, injuries in the secondary, and injuries at running back. What has he done to address these issues? Nothing. And nothing has changed. We are still having the same problems we had in 2006.
We don’t need to fire Ruskell because his contract expires this offseason. I say let him keep his job but don’t extend the contract. I don’t want Holmgren as a GM because he wasn’t that good at drafting talent, but there has to be other guys out there that can actually get us some talent and fix some of the problems we’ve been dealing with since ’06. I swear, one more season of the injuries at the same positions, the same method of ignoring our o-line, and giving up picks for old has-beens (or never-were’s), and I’m going to lose my mind.