RENTON — Will DK Metcalf play?
The hulking, star wide receiver was not on the field at the start of Seahawks practice open to the media Wednesday, four days before the NFC West’s leaders (4-3) host the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills (5-2) at Lumen Field (1:05 p.m., channel 13).
Metcalf did not participate in practice because of his sprained knee. Coach Mike Macdonald said he wouldn’t.
“You know him. He’s doing all the things,” Macdonald said Wednesday before the drills.
“Probably won’t practice (Thursday). Right now we’ll see on Friday, kind of reevaluate as we go.”
The rookie head coach was asked if he needs to see Metcalf practice before he can play again.
“I think you’d like to see him out there at some point,” Macdonald said, “but I think DK is a guy we’d be comfortable taking him all the way to the game (without practicing, before deciding if he will play).”
Metcalf has missed many Wednesday practices before and played on Sunday. He’s missed only one game in his six NFL seasons with Seattle.
But none of those other Wednesdays was three days into recovery from a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee.
The top receiving target for quarterback Geno Smith got hurt last weekend leaping to catch a pass from Smith that soared beyond the sideline boundary late in the third quarter of Seattle’s win at Atlanta. Falcons safety Justin Simmons hit Metcalf as he was in the air. That caused him to topple, feet over body. As he caught Smith’s throw out of bounds, Metcalf landed hard on his left knee into Atlanta’s artificial turf.
A few minutes later he was leaving the field while seated on the back of a motorized cart. An MRI the next day confirmed a grade-1 sprain of his MCL. The Cleveland Clinic defines the usual recovery time from a grade-1 MCL sprain is one to three weeks.
He caught his third touchdown pass this season from Smith late in the first half of the Atlanta game.
Metcalf needs 142 receiving yards to pass Hall of Famer Steve Largent for the most in a player’s first six seasons in franchise history (6,042). He is one receiving touchdown shy of Largent’s Seahawks record of 47 TD catches in his first six seasons.
Tyler Lockett, a fellow Seahawks veteran wide receiver who misses midweek practices but almost never games, said he doesn’t need to talk to Metcalf about managing his injury and his desire to play Sunday.
“DK is a pro. He understands what he needs to do to be able to get himself right and be able to position his self and go out and play at a high level,” Lockett said. “He’s in year six and been in these situations before where if he needs to practice or he felt the need to then he would practice if he needed to. If he feels like he just needs to do walk-through (practices) he’ll do that. Whatever it is that he knows that he needs to do to be able to get right, that’s exactly what he’ll do
“And I think everybody trusts him knowing that he’s going to always be ready and prepared to play.”
If Metcalf misses the second game of his career Sunday, Jake Bobo becomes Seattle’s third wide receiver behind Lockett and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Laviska Shenault would move up to Bobo’s usual spot as the fourth receiver.
Seven games into the 17-game regular season, Smith-Njigba is halfway to his totals from his rookie season last year as the team’s first-round draft choice. The former Ohio State Buckeye star leads the Seahawks with 37 receptions for 319 yards in first-year coordinator Ryan Grubb’s new offensive system.
Grubb’s offense is number one in the NFL in passing through seven games (270.9 yards per game).
“He’s putting himself in a position where he’s able to get open and he’s able to understand the defenses, how to be able to sit in zones, different things like that,” Lockett said.
“He has made a huge jump from year one to year two. Obviously, it’s not ideal for any person to go from year one and it’s like you learn this offense and now in year two you’re learning this offense. He’s done a great job being able to learn this new offense as he’s in year two.”
So, Lockett reasons, the Seahawks will be OK if Metcalf can’t play Sunday.
Not optimal, but OK.
“I think we have great depth in our room,” Lockett said. “You guys (saw) it when we were in camp, even when we had joint practices, everybody was making plays left and right. It was a difficult probably decision for everybody upstairs to figure out who was going to be on the team, who was going to make the team.
“I think we have great depth and I think we have really great players to be able to go out there and make plays and do what’s necessary to be able to help us be able to win those games.”
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