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Seahawks receiver DK Metcalf has yet to miss a game in his five-year NFL career, playing in all 71 and starting 70.
The only one he didn’t start was the fifth game of his rookie season in 2019 against the Rams, a contest in which Seattle began the game with just one receiver on the field, Tyler Lockett.
So Metcalf’s listing on the injury report as questionable for Sunday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field with hip and rib issues might seem like nothing to worry about too much.
Metcalf was also listed as questionable for a game against Carolina earlier this year with a rib injury that dates to the Detroit game and then turned in his best game of the season with six catches for 112 yards.
Metcalf also was able to practice Friday on a limited basis after sitting out Wednesday and Thursday, which has been the custom since the Detroit game.
But coach Pete Carroll insisted Friday that Metcalf is a game-time decision and there’s a chance he won’t play.
“He’s pretty sore still,” Carroll said. “He’s still working at it. It’s going to be all the way up until game time.”
Carroll said the hip injury suffered in Sunday’s 17-13 loss at Cincinnati is the bigger concern right now than the ribs.
“It’s more his hip,” Carroll said.
Metcalf left the Week 6 game late in the third quarter to have his hip examined in the locker room but then returned and caught two passes for 39 yards on Seattle’s second-to-last drive.
In better injury news, Lockett — who sat out practice Friday and was limited on Wednesday and Thursday with a hamstring injury — had no game status designation, meaning he is expected to play.
Seattle added to the receiver depth on its 53-man roster earlier this week by signing Cody Thompson off the practice squad. That gives Seattle five receivers on the 53.
Thompson has played in all five games as either a practice-squad elevation or on the 53 (having been on both). But Thompson’s presence on the 53 also means Seattle could elevate another receiver off the practice squad for depth on game day if needed, the two most likely candidates being Cade Johnson or Easop Winston Jr.
And if Metcalf really can’t play then it would also mean larger roles for rookies Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Jake Bobo.
Metcalf’s history of durability and fighting through injuries to play, though, indicates it would take a lot for him not to play.
And that he was able to practice some Friday also seems a step in the right direction.
Still, the injury designation caps an interesting week for Metcalf, who drew some criticism for a penalty for unnecessary roughness in the second quarter last Sunday for shoving the Bengals’ Cam Taylor-Britt both after the whistle and far downfield from the play.
It was his fifth penalty of the season, and on Wednesday Carroll said that Metcalf has “got to clean it up and we have to make sure that we’re aware of how they’re calling stuff. He’s a very aggressive player and very physical and it stands out and he draws attention because of that. We’ve got to be cleaner. He knows it and he’s got to get it done.”
Metcalf then took to the podium shortly after Carroll said those words, and said he didn’t plan to alter his approach.
“I’m not going to change the way I play,” he said. “ … I don’t feel like I was a problem or I need to make progress in a certain area. Football is a violent sport and it’s my one opportunity to be violent on game days. I’m just going to continue to do that.”
Carroll, asked Friday if he thinks the team’s message to Metcalf about the penalties is getting through, said only “he knows. He knows.”
RB Zach Charbonnet also questionable
The Seahawks also listed rookie running back Zach Charbonnet questionable with a hip injury after he did not take part in any of the team’s practices this week.
While Charbonnet was never listed as being injured against Cincinatti, Carroll said Friday the issue began to develop in that game.
“He had a hamstring that was bothering him a week ago in the game,” Carroll said. “We’re just watching it. It’s not serious, but he can feel it and he’s a running back so it makes a difference at that spot. We’ll find out what we do about that come Sunday.”
Charbonnet, a second-round pick out of UCLA, is Seattle’s second-leading rusher with 109 yards on 23 carries behind Kenneth Walker III (who has 345 on 83).
If Charbonnet can’t play then four-year vet DeeJay Dallas — who has typically played in the third-down/two-minute package — would likely get more snaps. Seattle could also elevate rookie SaRodorick Thompson off the practice squad.
Rookie Kenny McIntosh, a seventh-round pick out of Miami, has yet to play after going on Injured Reserve prior to the regular season. McIntosh is eligible to come off IR but did not this week.
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