Seattle Seahawks defensive back Bud Clark (9) is carted off the field after getting injured during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV / Associated Press)
RENTON, Wash. - The Seattle Seahawks placed rookie safety Bud Clark and second-year offensive lineman Mason Richman on the season-ending injured reserve list on Tuesday.
Clark and Richman were both injured in the first quarter of Sunday night's preseason game against the Tennessee Titans.
The Seahawks signed tackle Derrick Graham, safety Tysheem Johnson and running back Justin Jones to fill the three open spots on their roster.
The backstory:
Both players were injured less than four minutes into the game, with Richaman going down first, and Clark following shortly thereafter.
Richman was injured on the opening drive for the Seahawks. On a pass to Elijah Arroyo, Richman buckled and fell to the turf seemingly without significant contact. Trainers looked at his right leg before he got up and jogged off the field under his own power.
However, head coach Mike Macdonald was not optimistic about the prognosis for Richman after the game.
"We're going to try to figure out what's going on with Mason, but we also think that's a major injury, a long-term injury," Macdonald said.
Clark – a second-round pick out of TCU – was injured less than a minute of game time later.
Clark leaped over a pile of players on the ground on a rushing play by Tony Pollard and had fellow rookie Andre Fuller fall onto his leg as he landed. Clark immediately reached for his right ankle and signaled for help as trainers came to attend to him on the field.
Clark was eventually carted off the field with his right leg in an air cast.
"Bud has a broken ankle to my knowledge. Severity, I'm not sure, but he's going to be out multiple months," Macdonald said.
Being placed on injured reserve before final cutdowns means both Clark and Richman are out for the season.
Additionally, wide receiver Jake Bobo was lost for the season to a significant knee injury sustained in Friday's joint practice with the Titans. The trip to Nashville has proven to be rather costly for the Seahawks.
"Two guys that we love, that play our style of ball, that are our type of guys. Teammates love them. Great teammates, great guys, great football players. They have great futures. It's a heartbreaker, honestly. We had three heartbreakers this week, which is tough."
Clark had been battling with A.J. Finley and Rodney Thomas II for the backup safety spots behind Julian Love and Ty Okada. D'Anthony Bell is also in the mix, though he's been primarily filling the role of Nick Emmawori while he's recovering from pre-training camp ankle surgery.
Thomas also had recent surgery on his right hand and did not play against the Titans on Sunday.
"We're going to have to re-evaluate where we're at," Macdonald said. "We saw some good things out of A.J. and D'Anthony. So we'll see. Max (Maxen Hook), I think did some good things, but we'll definitely have to re-evaluate."
Richman has been primarily at left guard for Seattle throughout training camp, bouncing between the second- and third-team units.
Dig deeper:
Theoretically, Clark and Richman could have both remained eligible to return this season (if possible) depending on how the Seahawks handled their roster.
They could have kept the players on their roster through final cuts before moving them to injured reserve. By doing so, it would have made either player eligible to return from IR during the season.
Additionally, they could have been placed on injured reserve during final cuts. The NFL changed the rule in recent seasons to not require a player to be shuffled through to the final 53-man roster before he becomes eligible to return from injured reserve. They can just be placed on injured reserve at the end of training camp. However, that comes with a couple caveats. A maximum of two players can be eligible to return through this mechanism, and the players are immediately designated to return. The choice cannot be made later. Therefore, a team needs to be certain that a player will be able to return in order to avoid using one of their eight return designations on them.
The fact that Seattle immediately put them on injured reserve indicates the severity of their injuries.
Takeaways from Seattle Seahawks 19-16 preseason loss to Titans
The Seattle Seahawks had a much-improved effort in their second game of the preseason, but it was a costly trip to Nashville as injuries to Jake Bobo, Bud Clark and Mason Richman dampened the mood.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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