Stevens hurt, out six weeks

CHENEY – For eight days, Jerramy Stevens was back to doing what he loved.

He’d moved past the knee injury that required offseason surgery. He’s answered all the questions about his Super Bowl nightmare.

As of Aug. 9, Stevens was finally able to concentrate on football.

Then, on Thursday morning, Stevens’s problems continued.

The Seattle Seahawks’ tight end suffered a torn meniscus in his surgically-repaired knee and is scheduled to go under the knife again today. The initial prognosis is that he’ll be out six weeks, which would get him back on the field around the third week of the regular season.

Stevens suffered the injury on a pass play during Wednesday’s morning practice. As he reached for a ball, linebacker Leroy Hill bumped him from behind, and Stevens landed on the grass with both knees. He immediately got up, but started favoring his left knee before trainers attended to him on the sideline. Eventually, he was taken from the field to the locker room on a cart.

Speaking before the extent of Stevens’s injury was known, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said that the Seahawks would be able to fill the potential void.

“We haven’t had him this whole time,” Hasselbeck said, referring to the three minicamps and two weeks of training camp Stevens missed while rehabbing from surgery. “It’s not going to be much different than it’s been all offseason and so far in training camp.

“But having (Stevens) back on the field was fun. It was nice. It gives our offense an element of speed at that position, stretching the field and that kind of stuff. But there’s stuff those other guys do really well too.”

Tight end is one of the few positions on the Seattle roster that lacks experienced depth. Itula Mili, who played in just two games last season, will step in as the starter. Mili was the Seahawks’ starting tight end in 2002, 2003 and the last month of 2004 but lost his starting job just before the start of last season because of an intestine infection that left him hospitalized.

While Mili eventually worked his way back into playing shape, Stevens and former Seahawk Ryan Hannam were playing so well that Mili was a healthy scratch in all but two of Seattle’s games last year.

Hannam has since signed with the Dallas Cowboys, and the three other tight ends in camp have a combined 18 career NFL receptions, so Mili is probably back in the starting lineup when the regular season begins.

“I think Mili has had a great camp,” coach Mike Holmgren said Thursday morning, before the results of Stevens’s afternoon MRI were available. “It’s good to have him back because now, with Jerramy’s situation, to have a veteran tight in there is good.”

Holmgren was not available for comment after the announcement that Stevens would be out six weeks, but the coach said Thursday that he felt pretty good about the depth at the position.

“They get a chance to play in the games now, and they’ve got to show because it’s an important position,” Holmgren said, referring to veterans Will Heller and Matt Murphy as well as NFL Europe player Keith Willis.

Stevens caught a career-high 45 passes for 554 yards and five touchdowns last season. Stevens, who will turn 27 in November, had surgery to repair torn meniscus in his left knee six months ago.

Mili, 33, needs 13 receptions to pass Christian Fauria’s franchise record of 166 receptions by a tight end. In 2003, Mili caught 46 passes, which ranks as the highest single-season total by a tight end in Seahawks history.

Mili did not catch a single pass during the 2005 season. In fact, of the four healthy tight ends on Seattle’s roster, only Murphy (two with the Houston Texans) and Heller (one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) caught NFL passes last season.

Loose ends

Without Jerramy Stevens, the Seahawks have a lot of question marks at tight end. Here is a look at the remaining candidates:

Career rec. 2006 rec.

Itula Mili1540

Will Heller151

Matt Murphy32

Keith Willis00

Totals1723

Note: Stevens has 108 NFL receptions, including a career-high 45 last season