Seahawks’ Kevin Norwood has bone spur removed, could be back soon

RENTON – Seattle’s rookies were reeling last weekend, only one of the nine players the team drafted back in May still participating by the end of Saturday’s scrimmage.

Four days later, that rookie class is recovering as right tackle Justin Britt, receiver Paul Richardson and defensive lineman Cassius Marsh are all expected to be available for Thursday’s preseason opener in Denver.

There’s even positive news on Kevin Norwood, the receiver the Seahawks drafted in the fourth round who has been slowed by a sore foot. Norwood had a bone chip removed on Tuesday, and while he’s out for this week, he could be back before too long.

“He could make it back by the end of camp,” coach Pete Carroll said of Norwood’s recovery. “We’ll have to wait and see how that works out. But we’re glad to fix him. The guy has been playing with a lot of pain, and he just sucks it up and go through, but we figured out – hopefully – how to help him.”

Another rookie who’ll be out this week is linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis, who has been slowed by a sore abdominal muscle.

“An oblique strain that just has not gone away,” Carroll said. “He tries to work his way through it, and it just stayed aggravated.”

Most of Seattle’s plans for the playing rotations remain under wraps, however, from the question of whether Tarvaris Jackson will be the second quarterback in the game – “You’ll have to wait and see,” Carroll said – to if safety Earl Thomas will get the first shot at returning punts.

“You’re going to have to wait and see,” Carroll said. “Keep asking me more questions like that so I can answer like that.”

The one thing you can be relatively certain of is that Seattle will err on the side of caution for anyone who is injured or coming back from surgery.

“At this time, we’re always going to be patient,” Carroll said. “Always. That’s in our mind, knowing that we get another three weeks to get guys ready. We’ll be very conservative in trying to push anybody this time of year.”