Cliff Avril is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury for the Seahawks, which cuts into their enviable depth at the position a little bit with the start of the season around the corner.
Should Avril miss time in the regular season, the Seahawks might be able to turn to Chris Clemons as a replacement. Coach Pete Carroll was asked Wednesday if the reason why Clemons wasn’t placed on the reserve PUP list along with wide receiver Percy Harvin earlier this week was because he’s close enough to playing that there’s no reason to wipe out the first six weeks of the season and the coach indicated that it was.
“Clemons has been working out great. We watched him again today. He’s made fantastic progress,” Carroll said, via Curtis Crabtree of PFT. “You would not have been able to tell from his workout today that he had any issue, so that’s a really good sign. He hasn’t worked against anybody, hasn’t practiced or any of that kind of stuff but it’s a great sign. We have a big decision to make there. We’ll figure that one out.”
Clemons tore his ACL in the Seahawks’ playoff victory over the Redskins, but Carroll has said more than once this summer that a Week One return wasn’t out of the question for the player who has tallied 33.5 sacks over the last three years. If he can go in Week One, the Seahawks will have options to use against Cam Newton whether Avril can play or not. Even if he doesn’t, it sounds like Clemons has a good shot to be starting the year on the 53-man roster than the PUP list.