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Seattle Seahawks RB C.J. Prosise set for preseason debut

By Curtis Crabtree, The Sports Xchange
Kansas City Chiefs' KeiVarae Russell and Seattle Seahawks' C.J. Prosis. (Instagram)
Kansas City Chiefs' KeiVarae Russell and Seattle Seahawks' C.J. Prosis. (Instagram)

RENTON, Wash. -- Running back C.J. Prosise will make his preseason debut for the Seahawks on Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys.

"We're ready to go with him. It will be limited but we'll get him in there," Seattle head coach Pete Carroll said. "We're looking forward to just getting him started and getting some snaps. He'll play throughout, kind of just sprinkled in plays, just to see what he can do. This is the first step. It's a big deal."

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Seattle selected Prosise in the third round of May's draft with the intention of having him factor in extensively as a third-down back this season. His background as a receiver at Notre Dame intrigued the Seahawks and sparked curiosity about the different ways they could use him on offense.

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But so far during training camp and most of the offseason, Prosise has been sidelined with injuries.

A hip flexor issue kept him out for the majority of OTAs and mini-camps back in May and June. He then suffered a hamstring injury on the opening day of training camp and has missed a significant numbers of practices since.

"He's looked really good in practice and everything we've ever seen of him looks good, we just haven't seen very much," Carroll said." He just needs to get going, get started, get back to hitting and getting tackled, taking care of the football and all that kind of stuff.

"He's a very smooth gifted athlete and he's fast too. You can see that, and he's got really good hands. He's got a style that you can see, I think you guys will recognize pretty early he gets a little bit of room, a little bit of space. He looks like he can help us. He's done a very good job learning his stuff, as far as we can tell up to this point. He's got a lot of stuff in protections, pickups and stuff like that, that we're anxious to see him demonstrate but he's looked very good in practice with that stuff."

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Prosise pencils in as the third running back on Seattle's depth chart behind Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael. Fellow draft picks Alex Collins and Zac Brooks, and undrafted free agent Troymaine Pope slot in from there. With Marshawn Lynch retiring after last season, Seattle feels comfortable in their depth and options in the backfield.

"We have good depth," offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. "You saw all the way to Troymaine Pope going in there and he had a really big game for us, so there's a lot of guys to choose from, a lot of guys are getting reps, and what you want to have happen is to have tough decisions to make at the very end."

--Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham returned to team workouts for the first time on Wednesday since coming off the physically unable to perform list two weeks ago.

Graham was eased into full team work during Seattle's final walkthrough practice of the week prior to Thursday night's game against the Dallas Cowboys. He's been limited to individual drills and rehab work since being activated on Aug. 10.

"He was involved today in this tempo, which is a good tempo to start the transition. He will be picking up steam here in the next couple weeks."

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Carroll opened the door to the possibility that Graham wouldn't be ready for the start of the regular season last week. While he still is uncertain when Graham will be able to play, Carroll said all signs are positive in Graham's recovery.

"He had a great week this week," Carroll said in an interview on KJR-AM on Tuesday. "He had his best day yesterday, really a big workload and he handled everything and feels really good coming out of that. So we'll see. There has never been that deadline in my mind. We just want to get him back when he's ready. But he looks really good, everything is positive and he's really fired up and that's what he wants to do. We'll see if we can get that done."

Patellar tendon injuries have proven to be difficult for athletes to return from and resume their previous form. Victor Cruz of the New York Giants has not played since suffering the same injury in 2014. However, Carroll believes the player he's seeing going through rehab work on a daily basis looks every bit the player Graham was when they traded for him a season ago.

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"He looks exactly the same," he said. "I don't think he's going to be any different at all when he comes back. He's worked too hard. We'll have to see how the rigors of the games, how that weighs on him but I don't see that. He looks really, really good. It's just been a marvelous effort by Jimmy to get back and the trainers to work with him. We just need to do it in the right timing. There's not a rush. This is a very long season and if it takes a couple extra weeks that's fine."

NOTES: RB Thomas Rawls will be ready for the regular season opener against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 11, according to head coach Pete Carroll. ... TE Jimmy Graham was eased into team drills for the first time on Wednesday during the team's final walkthrough practice prior to Thursday's game with Dallas. Graham was activated off the PUP list two weeks ago but has been limited to individual drills and rehab work until now. The workload will be increased over the next couple weeks. ... RT J'Marcus Webb will make his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a knee injury. Carroll said Webb will primarily remain at right tackle, though he could get a few snaps at left tackle as well. ... SS Kam Chancellor will make his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a groin injury. ... DT Jordan Hill will make his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a groin injury. ... RG Germain Ifedi will play after being given a day off on Tuesday to rest a minor oblique strain. .. WR Kasen Williams will not play as he continues to deal with a lingering hamstring injury. ... TE Nick Vannett won't play as he didn't practice all week after suffering a high-ankle sprain last Thursday against the Minnesota Vikings. ... DT Jarran Reed won't play after aggravating an ankle injury and injuring his toe in last Thursday's game against the Vikings.

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