Linebacker K.J. Wright has yet to play this season for the Seattle Seahawks after having knee surgery in late August. His return will have to wait until after Seattle’s bye next week as head coach Pete Carroll ruled Wright out from returning to face the Oakland Raiders in London on Sunday.
“K.J. is running hard this week, he’ll run all throughout the week. It’s going to be too much to ask of him to get him back this game,” Carroll said. “I think we got to make sure and take care of him and get him strong and confident. With the break coming up, why would we go early now. I think we just need to maximize his opportunity to be at full strength, really recovered and confident. I think that’s the best way to do it.”
Wright felt something was amiss in his knee coming out of the team’s third preseason game in Minnesota. He had arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Aug. 27 and Carroll had been optimistic that the surgery would only keep Wright sidelined a couple of weeks.
“When we talked about it could be a quick recovery, I’m surprised at how good he looks right now,” Carroll said on Sept. 3. “He’s still got some swelling and some stuff he’s working on and all that, but this is a remarkable process he’s on. I don’t know why they knew that he could get back in a couple of weeks, but he’s got a shot, we’ll see.”
Wright hasn’t gotten back in just a couple of weeks. Sunday in London will be the seventh game Wright has missed - six regular season games and the team’s final preseason game against Oakland in August. The Seahawks have turned to Shaquem Griffin, a since suspended Mychal Kendricks, Austin Calitro and Barkevious Mingo to fill in at Wright’s weakside linebacker spot in the interim.
The first game Wright could return for is one the road against the Detroit Lions after their bye next week. The Seahawks could also get tight end Ed Dickson back in Detroit as well after spending the first six weeks on the PUP list.
