Seahawks: Pete Carroll gives slightly pessimistic update on Chris Carson

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll gave an update on running back Chris Carson’s injury and recovery status this week. But his words hinted at pessimism. According to Carroll, “(Carson) thinks he’s going to be able (to come back).”

Maybe I am misunderstanding Carroll’s words a bit. But I have been listening to Carroll speak about the Seahawks since 2010 and normally Carroll is upbeat and unusually optimistic. What he said about Carson’s recovery from a neck injury made me two things are at work.

One is that Carson will never see the field again as a member of the Seahawks due to the injury. While Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril both saw their careers end in Seattle with neck injuries as well, Carroll has said Carson’s injury is different.

Seahawks might still be without Chris Carson for some time

But in the middle of the 2021 season, before Carson was lost for the year after being placed on Injury Reserve in Week 6 and then never being activated from the list. His injury didn’t seem that bad at first and Seattle wasn’t overly transparent about how severe it was. Carson ended up having surgery late in 2021 and when Carroll announced Carson would be, Carroll said it was so Carson “can play next year.”

But Carroll said at the NFL’s annual league meeting on Tuesday

"Chris is feeling pretty good. He’s making progress, he’s looking forward to playing. He thinks he’s going to be able to pull it off. We’re looking optimistically at it. He won’t know until he gets back and really gets going. Physically he’ll be able to run around and all that kind of stuff, it’s just whether or not he can take the hits and all that kind of stuff. We’ll have to wait and see, but he’s planning on it."

This certainly doesn’t make it seem like Carson is anywhere near ready to play football in 2022. And to be honest, if Carson’s neck injury is so bad, Carson shouldn’t, so he isn’t dealing with an injury for the rest of his life, ever play again.

The other thing that might be at work is that because Rashaad Penny re-signed and was so good at the end of 2021, the Seahawks aren’t really thinking they even need Carson in 2022 and plan on releasing him. That would stink for the player and team as every NFL team really needs more than one good running back.

Hopefully, though, I am just misinterpreting Carroll’s words about Carson and he is just being cautious, and this would make sense. But usually, when Carroll seems hesitant about being positive about a player’s injury it means the player in question might not be playing for a long time.