The Seattle Seahawks are in it for the long run. They couldn't necessarily care less how the season starts. It's all about making the playoffs and remaining healthy in the process.
This means that injured running back Thomas Rawls and tight end Jimmy Graham will be weaned back into playing important roles on offense. Graham missed the final five games of the 2015 season with a knee injury. Meanwhile, after putting up a stellar and surprising rookie campaign, Rawls went down with an ankle injury 13 games in.
Both are expected to be major contributors this year. Starters even. Though, that's likely going to come down the road for each of these talented skill-position players.
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll didn't sound too optimistic about Graham's ability to return in time for the team's Week 1 outing against the Miami Dolphins.
“We’re going one day at a time with the thought that he’s going to play,” Carroll said. “That’s our thought. We’ll find out how that works out with no goal in mind at this point.”
The head coach went on to indicate that he has no expectations that Graham is going to play against Miami. It goes without saying that he's a no-go in DFS and even season-long drafts this week.
After missing the entire preseason, the expectation was that Rawls would be back in time for the regular season. While that might very well still be the case, Pete Carroll indicated Tuesday that Rawls is not yet ready to start.
"He's ready in the next couple weeks to get back in where he can start a game, take a game over and do all of the things that he can do," Carroll said. "It's still time to take care of him as we get him back. He only carried the ball a couple times so far."
In terms of ADP, Rawls is being relied on as a top-end RB2 in 12-team contests. So it shouldn't hurt you too much to have to sit him during the first couple weeks. Though, based on the value we've seen placed on him during preseason drafts, the hope here is that he will be back to primary ball-carrier duties soon.
Either way, avoid both of these guys in Week 1. Graham might not play, and Rawls will only see limited action.