Pete Carroll provides encouraging update on Abe Lucas

Seattle could get its starting right tackle back very soon.

The Seattle Seahawks’ projected starting offensive line has only played 30 minutes of football together all season, which has been a factor in the team’s struggles. At this point, fans will take any good news they can get, and there’s a potentially big development in the health of right tackle Abe Lucas.

Pete Carroll told media on Monday that Lucas is in line to return to practice next week. There’s a chance we could see Lucas practice this week, but it’s most likely that the following week will be the starting point for Lucas to eventually get back into game action again.

Lucas has been on IR since the end of Week 1 with a knee issue. Carroll said that Lucas received an injection recently, as he’d been dealing with discomfort. If Lucas is activated from IR with a return to practice designation, there will be a 21-day window to move him to the active roster.

Should Lucas return, it would finally make the Seahawks’ heavily injured offensive line whole again. Charles Cross, Damien Lewis, Evan Brown, and Phil Haynes have all missed at least one game to injury, and Lucas hasn’t even had a full-time replacement at right tackle. Jake Curhan filled in for him but that became bothersome (and he got injured, too), and over the past two weeks the Seahawks have alternated series between Stone Forsythe and Jason Peters.

The Seahawks have already faced two of the best defenses in the NFL over the past two weeks, and the schedule won’t let up starting Thanksgiving against the San Francisco 49ers. This team needs all the reinforcements it can get, and Lucas would (ideally) be a big boost for this unit and the offense as a whole.