Let's not panic here. While the Seattle Seahawks' offensive line must be better in 2025, and left tackle Charles Cross is an extremely important part of that, the fact that Cross is having surgery on a dislocated finger during training camp is no reason to worry. Right?
The good part is that Cross was practicing through the issue, while having his pinky finger and ring finger on his right hand wrapped. It might be worse if the injury were to his pointer finger because then he could not grab as well. The surgery for this injury seems to simply be part of his preparation for the 2025 season.
Having Cross fully healthy is the key, and if he were already dealing with a ring finger that kept getting dislocated, that could be an issue. He also isn't expected to miss any games in the regular season. He should be back well before Week 1.
Seattle Seahawks left tackle Charles Cross will miss some preseason time due to finger surgery
The drawback is that Cross missing training camp means rookie left guard Grey Zabel will be practicing next to a player at left tackle that he won't be playing next to during the season. Cross's veteran leadership would also be valuable to Zabel, especially in learning the tendencies that the left tackle has.
Hopefully, since Zabel and Cross have been able to do drills side-by-side in OTAs and minicamp, and the first part of training camp, the two have been able to build enough rapport where they help make the left side of the Seahawks offensive line the best it has been since the early 2000s.
That is, of course, when future Hall of Famers Walter Jones (left tackle) and Steve Hutchinson (left guard) were manning that side of the O-line. This isn't to say that Cross will be as good as Jones or Zabel as good as Hutchinson, but the duo of Cross and Zabel is bound to be better than anything since.
The Seattle Seahawks are also more than a month away (as of this article's posting) from Week 1. Plenty of time exists for Charles Cross to come back from what amounts to a relatively minor surgery. By the time the Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers on September 7, Cross should be just fine.