Pete Carroll provides reasonably encouraging injury update on Ryan Neal

Nov 29, 2022 - 9:31 PM

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The Seattle Seahawks came away mostly unscathed on the injury front against the Las Vegas Raiders, but strong safety Ryan Neal went down on the final play of the Raiders’ first overtime possession. Not only did he not return, but the next play the Raiders ran saw Josh Jacobs take off for the winning touchdown and easily shed the tackle of much-maligned backup Josh Jones.

I don’t think we can deal with another week of Josh Jones starting, so there’s some good news regarding Neal.

“He’s a little banged up,” Carroll said (via Seahawks.com). “His elbow is the lead concern, but he did bang his shoulder as well, so we’ll be taking care of both. His elbow is of more concern. They think he’s going to be OK—might miss a couple of days here, but we think he’ll have a chance to play this weekend. That’s really good news for what it looked like. We were concerned that it might be more than that.”

It’s a bruised elbow, more specifically.

We’ll see how it goes for Neal at Wednesday’s practice or even Thursday’s. Neal’s been a valuable part of Seattle’s defense and if he can’t go then it’s either Jones or perhaps UDFA rookie Joey Blount, who’s been contributing on special teams.

Meanwhile, pass rusher Alton Robinson has a chance to return this season, while defensive end Darryl Johnson Jr’s season is over following foot surgery. Johnson had been a promising waiver wire pickup who’d effectively supplanted Darrell Taylor in the lineup before getting hurt against the Detroit Lions.

“Darryl’s quite a ways away,” Carroll said. “He had surgery and he’ll miss the rest of the season. Alton is much closer than that. He’s running and moving. He’s not ready to be released yet from the rehab, so he’s still there.