RENTON, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks saw tackles Abraham Lucas and George Fant return to practice on Wednesday as both players began their 21-day practice window to be activated from injured lists.

Lucas has been out since the end of last season due to ongoing knee issues that required surgery. Fant has been out since Week 1 due to a knee injury of his own.

“I was joking with Abe, these are shoulder pads,” head coach Mike Macdonald said in reference to Lucas’ lengthy recovery. “Be good to see him out there. Get a new teammate out there.

Lucas was injured in the season opener last year against the Los Angeles Rams and missed the next 10 games.

“He’s having a procedure done that we’ve done with a couple other guys,” then head coach Pete Carroll said at the time. “It’s worked out really well. It takes a little bit of time. We’ve got to see how it goes with him. Each guy’s different but we’re going to try to fix him up.”

Lucas returned to play five more games before leaving the team’s Week 17 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He’d also miss the final game of the year against the Arizona Cardinals before having surgery this offseason.

“If you take a step back with Abe, all the stuff he’s been through over the last year, this guy has been working his tail off and it’s not easy to be doing your own thing and training and strengthening a leg,” Macdonald said. “This is a long grind back to where we sit today. I think he deserves a lot of credit to put himself in the situation to come back at this point in time. Should be really exciting to have him out there and doing his thing. We are going to ramp into it and be as smart as we can. I think we have a really good plan. Happy for him and excited to see him out there with the rest of the guys.”

Macdonald said that it’s unlikely Lucas has a chance to return to action before the team’s bye week in two weeks. That makes their game against the San Francisco 49ers on November 17 the first possible chance to see Lucas back in action.

Fant started the season in Lucas’ place as the team’s starting right tackle. However, he was injured in the season opener against the Denver Broncos and has been out ever since. Stone Forsythe started the next five games in place of Fant before injuring his hand against the 49ers two weeks ago. Rookie Michael Jerrell made his first start at the spot on Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons.

Meanwhile, the team placed Forsythe on injured reserve on Wednesday afternoon and he’ll miss the next four games for the team.

“The game wasn’t too big for him,” Macdonald said of Jerrell. “I’m just really pleased with his effort, frankly, and his finish on a per-play basis. … If he was the guy again this week, you know, we’d be really confident in him.”

Both Lucas and Fant were listed as limited in practice on Wednesday. Both players can practice for 21 days before needing to be activated from the physically unable to perform list (Lucas) and injured reserve (Fant), respectively. Seattle will only get two weeks of practice for both players due to their bye week set to follow next week’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.

Notes:

– Wide receiver DK Metcalf did not practice on Wednesday and Macdonald indicated they’ll see Friday if he has a chance to play this week.

– Cornerback Riq Woolen returned to limited participation in practice on Wednesday after missing the team’s last two games due to an ankle injury. Fellow cornerback Tre Brown did not practice on Wednesday, but is considered day-to-day. Nehemiah Pritchett also did not practice on Wednsday due to an ankle injury.

– Running back Ken Walker III did not practice on Wednesday as he continues to battle an illness that had left Walker questionable to play last week. 

Injury Report:

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