While the majority of the cameras were on star safety Jamal Adams after signing a four-year extension, he wasn't the only notable Seahawk to return to the field for Tuesday's training camp practice.
Sporting a helmet for the first time since injuring his big toe during OTAs back in June, D'Wayne Eskridge was activated from the PUP list after passing his physical. After being out for the first three weeks of training camp, Seattle plans to ease him back into practice gradually, as evidenced by the fact he only ran routes on air during warm ups and didn't participate in any other drills on Tuesday. It's possible he won't be able to play in the preseason finale next weekend against the Los Angeles Chargers.
But when speaking with reporters after practice wrapped up, coach Pete Carroll indicated Eskridge is in "incredible shape" and believes he will be ready for the regular season opener against the Colts on September 12. The key will be getting him up to speed from a learning standpoint rather than physical conditioning.
"He should be ready and raring to go by the opener," Carroll said. "We're not concerned about that timeframe, it's whether or not he can make it to this game in a couple of weeks. We'd love for him to get some playtime to get started; I don't know that that can happen, and we're not going to press that."
Drafted in the second round out of Western Michigan back in April, the speedy Eskridge impressed Carroll and the coaching staff during the Seahawks rookie minicamp in May. But he tweaked his big toe during a walkthrough early in OTAs and the team opted to play it safe by having him sit out the rest of the offseason program. While his condition improved during the six weeks before training camp, he wasn't quite ready to return when camp opened last month.
According to Carroll, Eskridge worked with Seattle's training staff to modify his cleat to protect the toe. In recent days, he's ramped up his running without discomfort and since the team got a good sneak peak of his abilities back in May, there won't be any hesitation getting him involved on offense or special teams right away.
"We did see him enough [in offseason workouts] to see what he could do, and he teased the heck out of us with his early showing, so we've been really waiting," Carroll said. "[Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron]'s got a real good plan for him and how we're going to incorporate him. We're not going to overload him, but we're going to try to get him involved, and that will happen. We'll get that done."
Aside from Eskridge making his camp debut, the Seahawks also received positive injury news on several players, including Colby Parkinson. After fearing the second-year tight end may miss extended time with a foot injury suffered in practice last week, the timetable for his potential return now looks much more optimistic.
"We got a really good report on Colby that he's not in need of surgery at this point," Carroll said. "They have a couple things that they've done, a couple of treatments that they've done to help them, and we're hopeful. We're hopeful he can get back a couple weeks, so we'll see how that goes. At one point we thought it might be much longer than that."
Parkinson originally broke his foot in June 2020 and opened his rookie season on the Non-Football Injury list, missing the first seven games of the regular season before being activated. A matchup problem for linebackers and safeties at 6-foot-7, 265 pounds, the former Stanford standout had enjoyed a strong camp prior to re-injuring the foot and looked poised to take on a significant role in Seattle's offense.
In Tuesday's practice, the Seahawks welcomed back running back Rashaad Penny, tackle Jamarco Jones, and defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. All three players had missed multiple practices and did not play in the preseason opener against the Raiders. Each is expected to be available for Saturday's second exhibition contest against the Broncos.
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