Jimmy Graham progressing from knee injury

Seattle Seahawks Jimmy Graham appears to be making good progress in his recovery from a serious knee injury suffered last season.

When Jimmy Graham reached back for that ball in the end zone against the Steelers last November 29th, it looked like a possible touchdown.

Seconds later, it looked like a disaster.

Graham didn’t catch the pass, and when his right leg got caught awkwardly underneath him, his right patella tendon ruptured. The injury has been referred to as even worse than the dreaded ACL tear. Consider this from Dr. David Chao, who works as a analyst assessing NFL player injuries:

“The grueling rehab takes a minimum of 6-9 months; however, the struggle to regain explosiveness and full power goes well beyond that.”

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Nine months would have put Graham’s “recovery” target at early September, and considering the “struggle to regain explosiveness” aspect, many have speculated that he would start the 2016 season on the Physically Unable to Perform list which would require him to miss the first six games.

But comments from Pete Carroll recently indicated that the team is optimistic Graham will be ready for the regular season opener, and pictures from the Seahawks training facilities today seem to back that up.

OK, so this looks like a TMZ-style photo snuck from the bushes, reminiscent of when Peyton Manning was secretly working out at Duke while trying to come back from his neck surgery. But still, this is great news. The fact Graham is doing more than just easy jogging, that he’s actually running routes and catching passes, indicates the training staff’s confidence in his knee.

UPDATE: Here’s video of Graham from today’s workout, along with a comment from Russell Wilson. 

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It’s still only May, but if Graham doesn’t experience any setbacks there’s no reason now to think he won’t be ready to come running out of that tunnel when the starters are announced against Miami on September 11th.