Jimmy Graham back sooner than expected?

The Seattle Seahawks may be getting Jimmy Graham back sooner than we expected. The tight end is still on pace to be ready for the start of the 2016 season.

It is no secret that I’ve been among the most skeptical people when it comes to Jimmy Graham’s recovery. A torn patellar tendon can lead to an 18 month recovery period, just ask New York’s Victor Cruz.

Not only is the recovery difficult, but the unbalanced strength between the two legs often leads to additional injuries. This is a tricky recovery, and it is probably best if we go into training camp with the expectation that Graham won’t be back until at least midseason.

Pete Carroll is much more optimistic. Then again, Pete Carroll is always optimistic. His optimism might not be a good measuring stick for anything. In this case though, his optimism seems significant.

Pete Carroll insisted that Graham is “absolutely” on track to be ready for week one. He later added that Graham is ahead of Thomas Rawls in his recovery. Rawls broke his ankle last season, but there is no worry that he won’t be ready for the start of the 2016 season.

"Jimmy is a little bit of ahead of Thomas in terms of on-field running, so he’s a bit ahead schedule-wise but still Thomas is in great shape. both kids are mentally right, they’ve got the great attitude about what they’re going to do in these next six weeks and so we’ll just have to wait and see."

While all of this is tough to believe because of the severity of Graham’s injury, there’s also no reason to suspect that Carroll is wrong either. He is only going on what he is told from the team doctors, and Seattle’s medical staff is extremely conservative in how they approach injuries.

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It also doesn’t hurt that the reports indicated that Graham was doing individual drills and catching passes. While there is a massive difference between that and being ready for contact, it is still a good sign.