Seahawks designate pair of defensive backs for return to practice

The Seattle Seahawks’ secondary is about to get some reinforcements for the home stretch of the regular season.

On Wednesday, the team announced that cornerback Artie Burns and safety K’Von Wallace have been designated for return to practice. Burns has been on injured reserve since mid-October due to a toe injury suffered against the San Francisco 49ers, whereas Wallace suffered an ankle injury in Week 9 against the Los Angeles Rams. This was Wallace’s first week of eligibility to return, whereas Burns could’ve been activated since Week 12.

Both players have a 21-day practice window to be activated off injured reserve and onto the active roster. If neither one is ready to return within that window, then they will revert to IR and be done for the season.

Burns has been primarily a special teams player and backup nickel corner, whereas Wallace started the season as the third safety behind Julian Love and Rayshawn Jenkins. Coby Bryant has assumed the role of starter alongside Love, while Jenkins is the third safety. It’ll be interesting to see what role, if any, Wallace has in the defense upon return.

The Seahawks will have to do some roster shuffling in order to get those two and reserve tackle Stone Forsythe back on the active roster. Forsythe is entering his final full week of his practice window and hasn’t yet been activated off of IR.

Fellow backup tackle George Fant, guard Anthony Bradford, and nose tackle Cameron Young are the other Seahawks players on injured reserve. NFL teams can only activate eight players off of injured reserve within the regular season, and the Seahawks are currently at six. You can do the math in terms of who may not be back for the regular season, but keep in mind playoff teams are allowed two more activations off of IR.