RENTON — Brock Coyle, an undrafted rookie out of Montana, is about to go from feel-good training camp story to starting middle linebacker for one of the NFL’s top teams.
At least that’s the plan for now for the Seahawks, who are still missing starting middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, and now might also be without Malcolm Smith, who suffered a groin injury in Sunday’s win at Carolina.
The Seahawks came into this season feeling like they had four starters for three spots at linebacker in the form of Wagner, K.J. Wright, Bruce Irvin and Smith, the Super Bowl MVP who isn’t a starter when the team is at full strength. So when Wagner went down with a turf toe injury against Dallas, the Seahawks were able to move Wright from his usual spot at weakside linebacker to the middle, a place he has started in the past, and plug Smith into the starting lineup.
But on Tuesday night, Coyle’s agent said via Twitter that his client will start against Oakland this weekend, and a day later Wright let it slip in an interview with Sports Radio 950 KJR that he is moving back to outside linebacker, both pretty strong indicators that the Seahawks are preparing to play without Smith this week. Wright’s interview happened after Pete Carroll’s Wednesday press conference, so the head coach did not comment on the linebacker situation other than to say they don’t yet know Smith’s status, but linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. confirmed after practice that Coyle is likely to start this week.
“Well, it’s his position to lose,” Norton said. “He’s in there right now. He could mess it up with a bad week, we could change our mind, but we were pleasantly surprised with Brock and his performance this summer throughout camp, throughout the preseason — he stepped in when Bobby was out then, he’s going to do the same thing now. We know exactly what we’re getting, and we’re very pleased with what we have. That’s why he’s here.”
While Coyle has primarily been a special teams player this season, playing just eight snaps on defense, including three last week, he did play extensively with the first team in the preseason while Wagner was recovering from an hamstring injury, so Norton is confident in the rookie.
“That’s why depth is so important,” Norton said. “Brock’s work that he had with Bobby out during the summer was very important. We know exactly what we’re getting. He’s a guy who we have a lot of faith in. He’s really tough, fast, smart, reliable, fast. He fits in really well with K.J., they work really well together. He, K.J. and Bruce and a really good tandem.”
As Norton notes, the base defense would likely be Wright, Coyle and Bruce Irvin, presuming Smith is out, but that doesn’t mean others won’t be involved, most notably rookie Kevin Pierre-Louis, who played well while filling in for Smith on Sunday. The Seahawks use Irvin as an end at times in pass rushing situations, and Carroll said they want to rotate as many players in as possible, so one possibility would be use Wright and Pierre-Louis as the two linebackers in nickel situations, getting the faster Pierre-Louis on the field for Coyle.
“We’re trying to get everybody rotating at this point,” Carroll said. “We want everybody that’s dressed to play if we can do it and utilized the while roster, and that applies (at linebacker) too.”
Other injuries
Center Max Unger returned to practice on a limited basis Wednesday after missing the last three games with a foot injury, which bodes well for his chances of playing Sunday.
While Wagner and tight end Zach Miller (ankle) have again been ruled out for this week’s game, Carroll said both are making good progress. Cornerback Byron Maxwell (calf), defensive Jordan Hill (ankle) and safety Jeron Johnson (concussion) all sat out of Wednesday’s practice, and the status for all three is still up in the air. Receiver Bryan Walters has been cleared after missing last week’s game with a concussion.
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com
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