Geno Smith cleared to start for Seahawks against Titans
ARLINGTON, TX - NOVEMBER 30: Geno Smith #7 of the Seattle Seahawks throws the ball during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on November 30, 2023 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. - The Seattle Seahawks will have quarterback Geno Smith back in the starting lineup against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, but who will play alongside Quandre Diggs at safety remains up in the air.
Head coach Pete Carroll said on Friday that Smith had a great week of practice and is ready to return to action after missing two games with a groin strain.
"Geno was fantastic. He had a great day today, so he’s totally back and primed and all of that," Carroll said.
Smith is coming off a really strong outing in his last start against the Dallas Cowboys. Smith threw for 334 yards with three touchdowns and an interception in a 41-35 loss to Dallas.
"As good as a Friday as I can remember for a quarterback," Carroll said of Smith. "It was really sharp. You can tell, because he laid off for a little bit, he’s spunky and strong and he’s in good shape and moving around great."
Seattle ruled out Jamal Adams on Friday as he will miss a second straight game due to ongoing knee troubles from the quadriceps tendon tear he sustained in the first game of the 2022 season.
Julian Love replaced Adams in the lineup last week against the Philadelphia Eagles and earned NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors with two interceptions of Jalen Hurts in Seattle's 20-17 victory. However, Love is still awaiting the birth of his son and is not traveling with the team to Nashville on Friday.
"As far as we know, we don’t have a baby yet, so we don’t know about Julian," head coach Pete Carroll said. "Julian will not be traveling with the team, he’ll be traveling otherwise when he can."
If the baby doesn't come in time for the game, Carroll isn't expecting Love to show up, which will force the team to turn to a different option.
"Whatever he’s got to do. Got to take care of his wife and family and all of that," Carroll said.
Coby Bryant has been working at safety during the week with Adams sidelined and Love absent. He worked at safety throughout training camp before toe injuries forced him to miss time, but this would be his first chance at the position in regular season action. Additionally, Ty Okada has been a practice squad elevation twice for Seattle in games that Adams missed and would be an additional depth option for the spot.
For Adams, Carroll acknowledged earlier this week that they've had conversations about whether to shut him down for the season. However, Adams is trying to get back on the field and play and they haven't made any decision like that yet.
"We talked about it yesterday. We’re still working at it and still competing," Carroll said.
"He’s still trying to get back. He’s still working at it, trying to find the right preparation process to make sure that we can maximize. The rigors of the season caught up a little bit. It’s a very difficult injury and he’s handled it amazingly, and he’s battling. He worked really hard to get back this week, couldn’t do it, so we’ll see about next week."
Adams won't make the trip to Tennessee, which Carroll supported. He also said he wasn't bothered by Adams not being at Monday night's game after being ruled out last week.
‘’I was fine with him not being there under the circumstances we couldn’t get him back," Carroll said. "We couldn’t get him there and ready to play. I thought we waited as long as we could and he was really disappointed he couldn’t be available, that was the choice that I think it was. I’m not worried about that at all."
Also ruled out for Sunday's game are linebacker Frank Clark due to an illness and wide receiver Dee Eskridge do to a rib injury.
"Just keeps lingering, he can’t get out of it, so he’s going to miss this week too," Carroll said of Eskridge.
Center Evan Brown is also sick and did not practice on Friday, but he's making the trip with the team to Nashville on Friday. He's listed as questionable. Running back Ken Walker III (shoulder) and cornerback Tre Brown (heel) are also listed as questionable, but Carroll said he expects them both to play.
Cornerback Devon Witherspoon is far less certain with a hip pointer issue. He was unable to do much during the week of practice outside of walkthrough periods.
"He tried to do some walkthrough stuff, he’s done some of that, but we’re going to have to wait and see," Carroll said.
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