Receiver Sidney Rice, one of the Seahawks top free agent signings, has missed the first two games with a shoulder injury. On Sunday, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that Rice has a labrum injury that will require surgery, which Rice plans to postpone for the season.
Pete Carroll has since co
nfirmed that there is a labrum injury, though he said after Sunday’s game that the injury is not nearly as serious as the labrum tear suffered by John Carlson, who is out for the season. Carroll maintained Monday that the hope is still that Rice, who practiced last week, will play in Seattle’s season opener Sunday.
“Sidney is working out hard,” Carroll said. “He’ll practice all week and we’ll see as we go day-to-day what that mean. He’s encouraged and wants to get back out.”
Asked how the team is testing the shoulder to find out if Rice can be game ready, Carroll said, “That’s up to the trainers, but they’re taking him through a very rigorous program to prove that he’s OK. You’d be surprised what they’re doing to work with him. He has to make it through practice and all of that, we’ll wait and see how that goes. We can’t count on him until he can make it through the week, so we’ll see how that works out. But he’s determined, and what he’s gone through to get to this point has been pretty rigorous to demonstrate that he’s OK to at least go to this next level.”
Carroll said they don’t know for sure yet if Rice will eventually need surgery: “We don’t’ know that yet. I don’t know that. . . Sometimes they do, they become where they’re not a factor and guys play with them for a long time. So it just depends.”
Last season receiver Ben Obomanu injured his shoulder in Seattle’s playoff win over New Orleans. He made it back for the game against Chicago, then needed shoulder surgery to repair a labrum tear in the offseason. Carroll said this situation is similar.
“He went out, they put his shoulder back in, he came back in the game and finished the season with a labrum tear that was repaired at the end of the season,” Carroll said. “. . . So that’s a similar situation that may arise. We don’t know.”
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