The Seattle Seahawks are waiting on the kind of injury update nobody wants to hear in August.
Rookie safety Bud Clark was hurt in the first quarter of preseason Week 2 and had to be carted off the field. An air cast was placed on his leg, which points to either a broken leg or a severe joint injury. The team still needs more tests before anyone knows exactly how serious it is, and that determination likely won’t come until Monday at the earliest.
Even before the diagnosis comes down, the early signs are grim. Clark appears likely to miss time, and possibly a lot of it.
That’s a rough break for a Seattle secondary that has already been under pressure. The cornerback room hasn’t performed the way the Seahawks hoped through training camp and preseason Week 1, and the team’s interest in embattled Terrion Arnold followed by an actual signing of oft-injured Trevon Diggs told the story pretty clearly.
Clark wasn’t projected as an outside corner, but he did give Seattle some useful flexibility. He could have worked in the slot, which would have allowed Devon Witherspoon to move outside and second-year player Nick Emmanwori to line up wherever Mike Macdonald wanted him. That still can happen, but probably without Clark in the mix.
The second-round draft pick made his name in college at TCU as a ball-hawk, and the Seahawks were clearly hoping that would carry over into his NFL career. Whether that translation happens now is the big question, because it may not come in his rookie season.
For now, there’s still no official word on the injury, and the game was still ongoing when the concern surfaced. The team may not get a full picture until it gets back to Seattle. What’s already obvious, though, is that the Seahawks may need to reshape their secondary again.
Josh Jobe and Witherspoon are set as the cornerback starters, but the slot could have to be handled by free agent Noah Igbinoghene at times. Clark was one of the players, like Emmanwori, who gave Macdonald more options to disguise his defense. Without him, that flexibility looks a lot harder to find.
And if Clark is sidelined for a long stretch, even the full season, that roster spot suddenly becomes up for grabs. Players fighting at the bottom of the Seahawks’ roster have a much better opening now, including Igbinoghene and maybe safety AJ Finley. For Seattle, the hope is still that the news ends up being better than it looks right now.
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