KIRKLAND – On the first practice back on this side of the state, the Seattle Seahawks welcomed the return of a key defensive starter while seeing a popular reserve’s season officially come to an end.
Defensive end Grant Wistrom passed his physical and attended his first practice of training camp Sunday. Backup quarterback Brock Huard, meanwhile, was placed on injured reserve.
Huard’s ailing back, which has a pinched sciatic nerve, simply wasn’t healing. By being placed on IR, Huard is not eligible to play in a game this season.
“He’s very disappointed, obviously,” coach Mike Holmgren said. “He’s a very sensitive guy. He’s had some real bad luck.”
Huard’s string of bad luck began in 2000, when he was given a chance to win the starting job with Seattle. He suffered a concussion in his third start of that season, forcing him to miss the next three games. His next start, against Denver, ended prematurely when a John Mobley sack led to a bruised kidney that effectively ended Huard’s season.
The following two years, Huard served as backup to Matt Hasselbeck and Trent Dilfer, and he eventually was traded to Indianapolis for a seventh-round draft choice.
The University of Washington product and Puyallup native re-signed with the Seahawks last spring. His one-year contract was reportedly worth $535,000, or the minimum for players with five years of NFL experience. He was expected to battle Seneca Wallace for the No. 3 quarterback position.
Huard suffered the injury during the second day of training camp practices. He had a number of different kinds of treatment to alleviate the problem, but it never got any better.
Things got so bad during the last week of camp that Huard was walking in an Eastern Washington University building, dropped his water bottle, and winced when he bent over to pick it up.
“Somebody please shoot me,” Huard mumbled as he stood back up.
While Huard’s situation came as bad news to local football fans, the Seahawks were happy to have Wistrom back on the field. The 28-year-old defensive end missed almost four weeks of training camp because of plantar fasciitis, an injury to his right heel that also hampered Wistrom last August.
The Seahawks opted to keep Wistrom on the sideline for longer than expected, strictly as a precaution.
“We have to be very careful with how we get him back into the flow of things,” Holmgren said. “We’re going to be monitoring that. But it will be nice to have him back.”
During his first practice since a June minicamp, Wistrom showed signs of rust Sunday. He struggled to find the ball during a few running plays, but later showed his quickness in a pass-blocking drill.
“I’m a fish out of water,” Wistrom said after taking part in Sunday’s afternoon practice. “The good thing is I have plenty of experience at it, so things should come back fairly quickly.”
Wistrom is expected to play in Thursday’s preseason finale against Minnesota, and then be ready for the regular season opener Aug. 12 at New Orleans.
Wistrom missed only a few practices with the St. Louis Rams last training camp while resting a similar injury.
“But I honestly feel a lot better now going into (the season) than I did last year,” he said.
Wistrom had 71/2 sacks while starting all 16 games with the Rams last season. The Seahawks signed him to a six-year, $33 million contract with the Seahawks, including a franchise-record $14 million signing bonus.
“Even though he has not practiced, you kind of know how he’s going to play the game,” Holmgren said. “You know the kind of effort you have there. There might be a little rust, but he is what he is, and I think we know what he is. As long as he’s healthy, he’s going to play the game a certain way.”
After passing his physical Sunday, Wistrom was added to the active roster. He had been placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list heading into camp.
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