Seahawks’ Brandon Mebane glad to be back after injury, uncertainty about his future

RENTON – Seahawks nose tackle Brandon Mebane is back in more ways than one.

He’s back from a hamstring injury that cut his 2014 season short then required surgery and a lengthy rehab. He’s also back with the Seahawks after an offseason’s worth of questions about whether he might be released in a cost-cutting move, which seems much less likely now.

And as Mebane told “Bob, Groz and Tom” on Monday, it’s good to be back.

“I’m feeling good, man. I just thank God I was able to come back from the injury I had,” he said. “It was a tough road, but I got through it … I think it was worth it.”

Mebane, who’s 30 years old and entering his ninth NFL season, had never been seriously injured until he tore his hamstring while chasing down a ballcarrier during a November win over the Giants. He thought initially it was just a strain, but it was much more severe than that. As he described it, the muscle detached from the bone.

There was a question as to whether or not he should have the injury surgically repaired. Mebane said three doctors told him he should while two others advised against it. He’s glad he did it.

“Me and my wife, we prayed about it,” he said. “And the muscle’s supposed to be there, so I was like, ‘Might as well put it back.'”

The injury forced Mebane to watch as his teammates chased their second straight Super Bowl.

“It was so tough, man, because I had never been hurt like that since I’ve been here,” he said. “It was very tough.”

It also contributed to the uncertainty about his future in Seattle. Another factor was Mebane’s $5.5 million salary, a high cost relative to the current market for nose tackles. There was a time early in the offseason when it seemed almost likely that Seattle would move on from its longest-tenured player. The team had signed free-agent nose tackle Ahtyba Rubin, who represented a younger and cheaper alternative. And general manager John Schneider was noncommittal when asked in March whether Mebane would be back in 2015.

“In football, when you’ve got a salary cap, there’s times where things like that may happen,” Mebane said. “I wasn’t really … like, ‘Oh man, I can’t sleep at night,’ all this and that. If it happened, it happened. But my main thing is, I thank God that I was blessed enough to actually come back and actually play. I can play football. Just getting cut and all that stuff, I heard every worst-case scenario that could possibly happen so I just put it in God’s hands. I was like, ‘I’m ready for whatever.'”

Mebane’s spot on the roster seems much more secure now after the team released Tony McDaniel last week. It’s hard to imagine the Seahawks moving on from both of their starting defensive tackles, especially given the early reviews about how Mebane has looked during the first few days of training camp.

Coach Pete Carroll brought him up voluntarily on Sunday.

“By the way, in case you guys missed it, Mebane was great,” Carroll said. “Gosh, he’s come out flying. I think Brandon is probably in the best shape of his life.”