Raiders coach Dennis Allen and defensive lineman Richard Seymour have offered conflicting opinions about the balky knee that has limited Seymour during the preseason.
“It’s more of a maintenance deal with Richard,” Allen said on Sunday. “He’s got some arthritis, basically, in his knee. So, he gets a little pain, a little swelling, we got to be able to manage that.”
But the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Seymour was surprised to hear that diagnosis and said today that he doesn’t have arthritis. When Allen addressed Seymour’s situation today, he omitted the word “arthritis.”
“It’s the same issues that he’s been dealing with for a while now,” Allen said of Seymour. “It’s nothing more than some tendinitis, and it’s something that you’re going to have to manage. And when you get into regular-season games, you play through some of that stuff.”
What Allen and Seymour agree on is that Seymour’s knee requires plenty of rest. And that’s no surprise for a 32-year-old who has spent 11 seasons playing defensive line in the NFL. Regardless of whether he has been diagnosed with arthritis or not, Seymour’s knee -- like the knees of a lot of aging veterans -- is showing the wear and tear that comes from playing pro football.