The timing is critical for Seattle with fellow tight end Luke Willson battling a hamstring issue.
“It was a great time for him to be available to us,” coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday. “He wanted to get back a couple weeks ago. We couldn’t fit it in. Luke is kind of opening the door for him. I know you guys are probably wondering to ask about – because he has a hamstring, we can ask about that. Luke has been such an extraordinary healer over the years that I know there’s no category for it, but we’re going to call him probable. Even though it doesn’t exist, you never know.
“Ed coming back is great. He’s really excited to contribute and help out.”
Dickson has yet to see a game this season, but he looks to figure immediately into the plan this week in Philadelphia.
“He’s going to play a regular load if the week works out fine,” Carroll confirmed. “He’s been conditioning for a long time. He’s been practicing with us for quite a while. He should be ready to go. Weight’s in a good spot. He looks like he’s in good shape. He won’t play the whole game because we’ll be moving guys in and out. We expect him to play a regular role.”
The Seahawks and Eagles are set to square off Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. PT.
The Cowboys chose to go off roster in plugging the void left by Brown, and they’re bringing in a good athlete with a chance to snare balls.
The Dallas Cowboys have a new member of their secondary, inking Deante Burton to a contract that will make him a member of the 53-man roster for at minimum the next three weeks. The move was necessary after the team had to place slot corner Anthony Brown on injured reserve following an arm injury suffered in the club’s Week 11 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Brown required surgery, ending his season. While Jourdan Lewis had already usurped Brown in the starting lineup, the loss of Brown thins out the depth at the cornerback position. The team has been working with five corners on the roster for much of the season, and now has the same number after claiming the 6-foot-2, 200-pound corner off of the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad.
To this point of his career, Burton has not been a return man in the NFL, but did so in high school and had several big special teams plays in college at Kansas State. Dallas has struggled on special teams in multiple facets, so this acquisition could potentially be part of an attempt to solve that fraction of the season’s equation.
Coming from a practice squad, the Cowboys are required to keep Burton on their active roster for a minimum of three weeks, which means he’ll have a tryout with the team through at least the club’s December 5 road matchup against the Chicago Bears.
Earlier in the year, the club lost fifth-round pick Michael Jackson in a similar move when the Lions snagged the University of Miami product.
UDFA Chris Westry is on injured reserve, but the club saw Burton as a better fit than current practice squader Donovan Olumba, who was impressive in his preseason work but failed to make the team’s opening roster.
Behind starters Byron Jones and Chidobe Awuzie, Lewis is the only CB currently getting defense snaps. C.J. Goodwin has been a core special teams player for the Cowboys, but rarely sees the field on defense. He has just 20 snaps (2.9%) as opposed to 181 on teams (66.8%).
As for Burton, he was originally a UDFA of the Atlanta Falcons, joining the league in 2017 out of Kansas State, where he was a wide receiver.
During his time on the Falcons’ practice squad, he made the transition to defense. Perhaps the Cowboys are hoping his experience on offense could lead him to making better plays on the ball than the club has gotten. Dallas only has four interceptions through 10 games.
The 25-year-old has spent time with the Packers, Falcons for a second stint, and Texans before being on the Colts practice squad this year. He has three games under his belt and five total tackles, all of which came against the Philadelphia Eagles in one game each for the Falcons and Texans.
He also appeared in the playoff game for Houston, logging five special teams snaps.
The New Orleans Saints started a 21-day countdown for wide receiver Keith Kirkwood to practice with the team and return from injured reserve
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Reinforcements might be on the way for the New Orleans Saints wide receiver corps. Second-year pro Keith Kirkwood practiced on Wednesday, hours after Saints coach Sean Payton commended his progress in recovering from an early-season hamstring injury. Kirkwood has been on the shelf since hurting himself in pregame warmups back in Week 2, but the Saints designated him to return from injured reserve on the official league transactions wire.
This starts the clock on a 21-day window for Kirkwood to practice and be promoted to the 53-man roster, or else revert to the injured reserve list. It’s unclear which game the Saints are targeting in-house for him to make his return, though the earliest he’d be eligible would be Week 13’s game with the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 28, per NFL rules.
If Kirkwood is able to suit up again this season, it’s easy to see how he could help the team. They have a wide-open void at the wide receiver position opposite Michael Thomas, who has caught 86 of the groups’ 116 receptions this year. The Saints weren’t able to find any last-minute upgrades at the NFL trade deadline, so Kirkwood might be their last remaining hope for to receiving corps to suddenly improve.
Teams are allowed to bring back two players from injured reserve each season, though it’s tough to say which Saints players may qualify. We can parse the list down a bit, however, because NFL rules stipulate only players who started the year on the 53-man roster may return from injured reserve later that season. That excludes most of the players on the list, which you can find below:
C/G Cameron Tom (ineligible)
LB Alex Anzalone
LB Kaden Elliss
LB Colton Jumper (ineligible)
LB Josh Martin (ineligible)
TE Garrett Griffin (ineligible)
WR Keith Kirkwood (designated to return)
Payton said earlier this year that starting middle linebacker Alex Anzalone would miss the rest of the season after shoulder surgery, so he won’t be a candidate. That leaves rookie linebacker Kaden Elliss as the only option left, but he tore his ACL on Sept. 22. There’s no way he’ll be recovered from that in time to play later this season. So don’t expect anyone but Kirkwood to return from injured reserve in 2019.
With tight end Luke Willson now out with a hamstring injury, Seattle Seahawks will likely activate Ed Dickson back to the 53-man roster.
The Seattle Seahawks just continue to suffer injuries at the tight end position. In Week 10 against the San Francisco 49ers, Luke Willson left the game with a hamstring injury and was unable to return leaving Jacob Hollister as the team’s only true tight end on the roster.
Willson had been battling a rib injury heading into the contest.
“Luke’s got a legit hamstring – legit meaning that it’s not just a little cramp or something,” coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday after Willson had been further evaluated. “It showed up in the MRI testing of it. But it might be a couple weeks for him, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Yes, he’s ready to go,” Carroll confirmed. “Fortunately, if Luke is unable to play then we would like to think we can go right to Ed and get him going.”
Dickson has been able to practice with the team but must be added back to the 53-man roster before he can make his 2019 season debut.
