Early Injury Outlook for Seahawks and Patriots heading towards Super Bowl LX

With twelve days to go before the game is played, there’s a lot of time for things to change, but let’s size up the situation on both sides injury-wise.

Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas (42) reacts after an interception against the San Francisco 49ers. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

With no game being played this week, neither the Seattle Seahawks or New England Patriots are likely to keep relatively quiet about their respective injuries. With no requirement to reveal anything, teams typically err on the side of secrecy. You’ll get a handful of vague statements and general platitudes, but rarely anything concrete until the actual leadup.

But we can work with what we have, as well as information from before the conference championship games were played, to at least paint something of a picture. So, let’s go through each team’s injury outlook, keeping in mind that there’s plenty of time for players to do what they have to do to get back, and it would take a lot for a player to miss a Super Bowl.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks sustained two obvious injuries in the NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams. The first was to swiss army knife Brady Russell, who sustained a hand injury of some kind. Macdonald said that Russell would work through the injury before the Super Bowl, which could mean a lot of different things, but offers little in the way of a timeline.

Russell provides depth at fullback, tight end, and linebacker, but primarily plays special teams, where he is an important part of the best special teams unit in football. With starting fullback Robbie Ouzts currently injured as well, he might have a bigger role if he can find his way back to health. Not a massive deal, but certainly a player you’d rather have than not.

The second injury was to linebacker Drake Thomas, who went out with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter. It’s worth noting that Thomas was playing an especially poor game before the injury, and Tyrice Knight (who entered the year as the presumed starter) was good in relief, but Thomas has been very good recently and the team is clearly better with him available.

Macdonald made a similar comment about Thomas working through the injury over the next couple weeks, but this is the one worth monitoring. As a starter, and surprise lynchpin to the dominant defensive performance in back-to-back games against the 49ers, it would be tragic for Drake to miss the Super Bowl after a season where he worked so hard to ascend.

Nothing else from Sunday’s game is particularly notable. Sam Darnold and Charles Cross were both ‘sore’ coming out of the game, but no one has ever missed a Super Bowl due to soreness, particularly with so much time to recover. Maybe they get reduced practice time over the next couple weeks, but there’s no doubt they’re playing.

Seattle Seahawks fullback Robbie Ouzts (40) warms up before the game. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Robbie Ouzts is a leftover from the prior game, leaving the 49ers divisional round bout early with a neck injury and missing the conference championship. The fact that Ouzts practiced some last week and was questionable inspires some confidence he can return for the Super Bowl, but Macdonald didn’t sound overly confident and says his injury has to ‘calm down’ first.

Amari Kight didn’t practice last week and was inactive, but has a very minimal role even when healthy right now. Chazz Surratt hasn’t been activated yet, but there’s no particular need for him. Elijah Arroyo has been continually held out despite what seems to be a clean bill of health, presumably out of a lack of a plan for how to use him. We’ll see how these situations change.

New England Patriots

There were two injuries of note for the Patriots in their own conference championship match. The obvious one was linebacker Robert Spillane, who left the game and did not return with an ankle injury. New England’s top tackler in 2025 and one of their big free agent gets in the offseason, Spillane would be a big loss if he can’t go.

There was a second, less-obvious, but far more potentially important one. Quarterback Drake Maye got a shoulder injury in the third quarter while being tackled on a scramble, but stayed in the game. He was able to finish the win out and even make some good throws (along with some poor ones), but the conversation about his shoulder picked up the day after the game.

The situation has been addressed by the player and Coach Mike Vrabel now, and there’s no doubt the injury is real, but it seems unlikely that it will keep him out of the Super Bowl. Could it affect his performance negatively? If it does, the Patriots are in big trouble, as no team depended on their passing attack more than the Patriots in the regular season.

New England’s dropback EPA was #1 in the NFL during the regular season, and their rush EPA was #25. That the script has flipped so much in the playoffs has more to do with their opponents and game situation, and it’s hard to imagine the Patriots running it successfully on Seattle’s run defense. Maye needs to be able to hit his throws, and any hindrance could be a problem.

One other big potential issue for the Patriots is at EDGE, with Harold Landry III having missed the conference championship game entirely after not practicing all week, coming off a divisional round game where he played all of eleven snaps. He’s clearly not right and will be fighting hard to get back for the Super Bowl, and will be well short of 100% even if he does.

Landry III led the Patriots in sacks (8.5) and QB hits (19) per Pro Football Reference. Without him, their pass rush takes a big hit, although their defense has been excellent over these last two games with almost zero impact from him. His ability to get back for this game and make a meaningful contribution is significant.

Otherwise, New England is fairly clear of injury concerns, but those three players being in any degree of limbo is more than enough to stress them out as we work through this pre-super bowl period.

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) drops back to pass against the Denver Broncos. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

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