Colby Parkinson breaks foot again. That Gerald Everett signing was sure key for Seahawks
The Seahawks signing Gerald Everett this spring looks bigger each summer day.
The former Los Angeles Rams tight end knows new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s system better than anyone on Seattle’s roster. He and Waldron were with the Rams together through last season.
Thing is, Everett is a tight end in name only. He has been all over the Seahawks’ offense this summer, outside as a wide receiver, in the slot, in motion. He’s an “X factor” Russell Wilson hasn’t had in Seattle’s passing game.
Wilson also trusts second tight end Will Dissly. Dissly is healthy after grinding back from two season-ending injury his first two, promising NFL years.
All that matters more now with Colby Parkinson injured again.
The Seahawks’ tallest receiving target fractured the same foot he broke last summer before his rookie training camp, coach Pete Carroll said Friday.
The 6-foot-7 Parkinson, the fourth-round draft choice from Stanford last year, had been one of the standouts of the first two weeks of training camp. He was leaping over shorter defenders and pulling down passes from Wilson and backup quarterback Geno Smith, particularly in the red zone as a unique target inside the 20-yard line.
Carroll said Parkinson re-injured the same foot the tight end broke in June 2020, this week in practice on an innocuous-looking play. The coach made it sound like Parkinson is likely to begin this season on an injured list as he did his rookie year.
Parkinson played in six of 16 regular-season games in 2020. He was on the non-football-injury list from July through Oct. 31. He made his NFL debut Nov. 1 against San Francisco, then was inactive for Seattle’s next three games.
“We are really disappointed because he was having a fantastic camp,” Carroll said before the Seahawks got on a jet for Las Vegas and their preseason game there against the Raiders Saturday night. “We really had hopes that he had a role, that he could fit in. He was looking like it. ...He really sparked really early.”
Carroll said “it’s going to be a bit” before Parkinson returns.
Parkinson broke his foot training on his own before the 2020 training camp. He had surgery in mid-June of last year. He didn’t practice for the Seahawks until October was over.
“It’s hurt right in the same spot,” Carroll said. “How broken it is? I don’t know.
“He’s got a screw in his foot already, you know. So we’ve got to wait and see what all that means.”
Carroll said the team will be seeking multiple medical opinions on how to proceed in treating Parkinson’s fracture.
Cam Sutton, come on down.
The first-year free agent from Fresno State signed with Seattle this offseason. He now steps into a golden chance to become the third tight end on the roster to begin the season. At 6-6, Sutton is almost as tall as Parkinson.
Sutton blocked a Michael Dickson punt Sunday in the team’s mock-game scrimmage at Lumen Field. The middle of Dickson’s protection team just ignored Sutton coming straight at the punter.
Thursday, the 6-foot-6, 249-pound Sutton made a savvy play well beyond his years in the league. During a red-zone scrimmage he ran a wheel route up the right sideline against Nate Evans, a linebacker Seattle claimed off waivers from Jacksonville this offseason. Sutton cleverly did not let Evans know the pass from Smith was arriving into the end zone. Sutton kept his head, eyes and hands down and looking up the field, as if the pass wasn’t coming his way. Then the ball zipped over the unsuspecting Evans’ helmet and into Sutton’s tucked-in arms for the touchdown. That’s a subtle trick even fifth-year veterans don’t always learn.
Sutton is likely to get multiple chances in the offense throughout Saturday night’s game at Las Vegas. A fourth tight end, 2020 free agent Tyler Mabry is out with a sprained foot.
The only other tight end on Seattle’s 91-man roster is Dominick Wood-Anderson. He’s a first-year free agent from the University of Tennessee, 6-4 and 257 pounds.
So it’s going to be Sutton and Wood-Anderson a lot Saturday. Everett, Dissly and Seattle’s veteran starters are unlikely to play much more than a series or two against the Raiders.
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Colby Parkinson breaks foot again. That Gerald Everett signing was sure key for Seahawks."
