Injuries are why the Seahawks can’t have nice things

In what seems to be an annual rite, another Seahawks running back gets injured. This time it’s J.D. McKissic, and it could be a big deal.

At times it seems that the worst job in the NFL must be a Seahawks running back. You won’t get great blocking (ranked 31st by Football Outsiders last year, 26th in 2016), and there’s a great chance you’ll be injured and miss some serious time. Just ask Chris Carson, C.J. Prosise or former Seahawk Thomas Rawls about missing time. Over the past two seasons, those three players missed 44 games – and Carson only had one season, of course. We’ve already seen rookie Rashaad Penny go down with a broken finger. At least he should be ready for the regular season. Sadly, that isn’t the case for J.D. McKissic, who could miss as much as six weeks with a fractured foot.

Now, you might look at this and think it isn’t that big a deal. After all, McKissic didn’t even see the field until week four against the Indianapolis Colts last year. Of course, that was the game in which McKissic scampered for a 30 yard touchdown, the only rushing touchdown the Seahawks would see all year by a guy not wearing number 3 on his jersey. McKissic did a nice enough job in the role Prosise would have played if he hadn’t been hobbled all season with his own injuries.

So far this preseason, McKissic has seen most of his action in the return game, which makes sense. The Seahawks know what he can do in the backfield. They needed to see more of the rookie Penny, and see if Prosise could handle a heavier workload again. As a returner, McKissic has handled all but one punt return and about half of the kickoffs. With the change in the kickoff rules, McKissic could certainly see some time on the return team, although Penny and Tyler Lockett will be the primary weapons.

McKissic has been the Seahawks Swiss Army knife in the backfield

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It’s McKissic’s versatility that makes him valuable to the Seahawks. He was in for 106 snaps on special teams last year, too. As noted above, Penny’s injury poses no problem, as he’s expected to be ready for Denver. But McKissic may not be available until as late as October. That puts the Seahawks in a very tricky position. If they put him on Injured Reserve now, he’ll have to clear waivers. He isn’t exactly Barry Sanders, but consider this. The Seahawks signed Gerald Holmes and Justin Stockton this month, and they aren’t exactly household names. So it’s a gamble to let McKissic go through waivers.

It’s certainly a quandary for Seattle, although it does appear to have locked in the running back corps for now. Mike Davis and fullback Tre Madden are virtual locks to join Carson, Penny and Prosise, as Seattle has been expected to carry five backs all along.

Of course, Seattle can keep McKissic on the roster through preseason and place him on Injured Reserve prior to the start of the regular season. The problem with that strategy is he’d have to be on IR for eight weeks, and he’s projected to miss no more than four of the games that count, possibly as few as two. That would make him unavailable for at least four games when he’d be healthy. And it’s almost a certainty that another running back will be out with an injury before then. This is the Seahawks we’re talking about, after all.