Jordyn Brooks expected to play in regular season finale for Seahawks

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 18: Jordyn Brooks #56 of the Seattle Seahawks tackles D'Andre Swift #0 of the Philadelphia Eagles in the third quarter at Lumen Field on December 18, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Jane Gershovich/Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. - Seattle Seahawks linebacker Jordyn Brooks is expected to play in Sunday's regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals as the team needs and win and some help from the Chicago Bears to find their way into the postseason.
"He practiced well today," head coach Pete Carroll said. "Wednesday and Friday we took him out there, and he did fine."
Brooks missed last week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers due to an ankle injury that sidelined him just 10 snaps into the previous week's game against the Tennessee Titans. With Brooks out of the lineup, the Seahawks had one of their worst defensive performances of the season. Defensive coordinator Clint Hurtt said Thursday he had the team with 19 missed tackles in the game in a 30-23 loss that ceded control of Seattle's playoff hopes.
"It's disappointing," Brooks said. "We underachieved in my opinion, greatly. We underachieved from top to bottom, I feel like. Like I said, we put ourselves in this position and I'm a part of that. So all we can do now is just focus on winning the game and hoping somebody else loses. But at the end of the day, we did it to ourselves."
Coming off a torn ACL late last season, Brooks made it back in time for the start of the 2023 campaign and has played in 15 of 16 games for the team. He's had another strong year for Seattle with 109 tackles, a career-high 4.5 sacks, an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and a forced fumble.
"It's important for a number of reasons," said Brooks, who is set to be a free agent after the season. "Not knowing the future here. This might be my last time we get to suit up with these guys, or if this is the last game of the season, you know, I want to always want to finish. I didn't get to play last week, really these last two weeks, and so I'm excited to be back out there and be able to perform."
While Brooks is set to play, the status of nose tackle Jarran Reed won't be known until game time on Sunday. Reed has a significant bruise on his knee that kept him out of practice this week.
"It's going to be all the way up to game time," Carroll said. "He couldn't go today, so we're going to wait it out. He got a nasty shot on his knee, it's a big bruise and it's hampering him some, so we'll see if we can get something done by game day."
Tackle Abe Lucas was ruled out with a knee injury that has plagued him throughout the season and backup Jason Peters is also questionable to play due to a plantar fascia injury in his foot. Carroll said they'd give Peters the extra two days to see if it progresses, but Stone Forsythe is set to start at right tackle against the Cardinals.
"He's not making it around very well," Carroll said of Peters. "It's going to be if something happens maybe he could get back up. We're going to have to wait a couple more days. We'll just take every day as we're going here. It's unfortunate that he hasn't been able to finish better than this. We really like the guy and he's been a real positive factor, but it's going to be hard for him to get in there."
Running back Kenny McIntosh injured his thumb in practice on Thursday and won't play. Carroll said he stumbled to the ground and landed hard on his thumb, which caused an injury that will keep him out.
"He stumbled on the turf and caught his thumb going to the ground, and it hit pretty hard and just caught it in a really nasty way," Carroll said.
Guard Phil Haynes was designated to return to practice on Wednesday and went through one practice with the team before being held out the rest of the week. Calf and toe injuries limited Haynes the second half of the season.
Haynes' return seemed critical when center Evan Brown was still working his way back from a concussion. However, Brown returned to practice on Thursday and will play against Arizona on Sunday.
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