Broken Foot Could Derail Colby Parkinson's Rookie Season with Seahawks

In unexpected injury news, the Seahawks could be without one of their top draft choices during the early stages of the 2020 season after tight end Colby Parkinson underwent surgery for a broken fifth metatarsal in his foot earlier this month.

Parkinson, a fourth round pick out of Stanford, suffered the Jones fracture while running routes during an offseason workout and has been rehabbing in Seattle over the past two weeks. Per a source, the team remains optimistic about him playing later in the season, but there isn't a time table for his return.

Such offseason injuries have become commonplace as players try to work out on their own during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this week, Eagles guard Brandon Brooks announced he tore his Achilles tendon, while 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel also needed surgery for a Jones fracture in his foot.

Speaking with a respected foot specialist, Parkinson may be able to return to the field by as early as mid-September, depending how quickly his foot heals after surgery. That would put him around the 10-week mark, typically the minimum recovery time for Jones fracture surgery.

However, even if Parkinson can start practicing again at that point, the regular season will already have started. Likely to be a candidate for the PUP list, if he's not activated to the 53-man roster before Week 1, he will be sidelined for at least the first six weeks of the season per NFL rules.

It's also not uncommon for Jones fractures to heal improperly due to lack of blood flow to the feet, often leading to longer recovery windows and the potential for a second operation. Given Parkinson's 6-foot-7, 251-pound frame, his size could also be a factor that prolongs recovery time further.

Considering those variables, the best-case scenario for Parkinson would be a return in Week 7 coming off Seattle's bye week. And as the team learned the hard way last year, missing training camp and the entire preseason would be detrimental to his development and make it difficult for the rookie to contribute once activated.

Just last season, Seattle's two top draft picks, L.J. Collier and Marquise Blair, each missed extensive time in training camp and the preseason. Blair sat out most of mandatory minicamp with a hamstring injury and also dealt with a neck issue in the preseason, while a rare sprained ankle cost Collier the entire preseason.

Behind the eight ball trying to play catchup all season long, Collier recorded just three tackles and logged a mere 152 defensive snaps in 11 games. As for Blair, he started three games in the middle of the season but only played 232 defensive snaps and primarily pitched in on special teams.

"When a young guy gets hurt, it really hinders him more so than an experienced player and that's because he misses the development time," coach Pete Carroll said earlier this month.

With OTAs and minicamps already been lost due to stay-at-home restrictions around the country, Parkinson hasn't had a chance to start developing chemistry with Russell Wilson on the field. If he misses all of training camp and the preseason as anticipated he'd be in a worse position than Collier was.

Trying to work back into the rotation midway through the year without any preseason work would be arduous task, which in reality could turn Parkinson's rookie season into a "redshirt" year.

While Seattle has plenty of depth at tight end without Parkinson, his injury still is a significant blow for a position group chocked full of durability concerns. Will Dissly will be trying to return from a torn Achilles tendon, his second major injury in two seasons, while veteran Greg Olsen has battled his own foot issues in recent seasons.

Jacob Hollister and Luke Willson, the other two established veteran tight ends on the roster who have the most to gain from Parkinson's injury, have also missed games due to injury over the past two years.

Though he wasn't expected to jump right into the starting lineup, Parkinson's size and soft hands gave him a legitimate chance to become an immediate red zone threat for Wilson right away. Now, those plans will certainly be put on hold and depending on how he heals, it's not impossible they could be tabled until 2021.