Dee Eskridge, Artie Burns Set to Return For Seahawks' Preseason Finale vs. Cowboys
After missing most of training camp with a nagging hamstring issue, the Seahawks will have Dee Eskridge back in the lineup when they wrap up their preseason docket against the Cowboys on Friday.
As confirmed by coach Pete Carroll following Thursday's walkthrough, Eskridge will suit up and play for the first time this season after a "great" week of practice. He has been sidelined since feeling a tweak in his hamstring during the first training camp practice on July 27 and has been slowly progressing back into team reps over the past few weeks.
"He's very explosive, he jumps out," Carroll said of Eskridge's work week. "You can see his quickness, his ability to get off the ground and elevate, his catch and run thing is really an exciting thing to look forward to... He really didn't look rusty or anything coming in for the first week, so he had a very good week, he'll get to play, and we'll see how far we can take it."
In addition to Eskridge's return, cornerback Artie Burns (groin) will also dress after returning to practice this week and likely will receive the start at left cornerback with Sidney Jones still sidelined by post-concussion symptoms. The veteran missed Seattle's first two preseason games after coming up lame in coverage during one-on-ones earlier this month.
While Eskridge will get some snaps, the Seahawks won't have veteran receiver Marquise Goodwin back for Friday's finale. With that said, he practiced in limited fashion this week and Carroll expects he will be good to go for the regular season opener against Denver on September 12.
According to Carroll, running back Rashaad Penny won't play in Dallas either after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. He hasn't had any notable symptoms and should be good to return once he has been isolated for five days.
Seattle will also be without safety Ryan Neal, who has made steady progress returning from a "legit" high ankle sprain and started running recently. Despite the positive update and the player's own optimism about his recovery, however, Carroll indicated his status for the start of the regular season remains uncertain.
Teams do not release injury reports for preseason games, but if the Seahawks were required to do so, defensive tackle L.J. Collier would be questionable as a game-time decision. The former first-round pick, who finds himself in a dog fight trying to maintain his roster spot thanks to the stellar play of Myles Adams, returned to practice this week after initially injuring his elbow in the team's mock scrimmage.
