Earl Thomas out against Washington, Bradley McDougald to start

Houston Texans v Seattle Seahawks

RENTON -- Free safety Earl Thomas will not play Sunday against the Washington Redskins.

Thomas was officially ruled out on Friday due to a strained hamstring sustained last Sunday against the Houston Texans. Bradley McDougald will make his first start at safety for Seattle in Thomas' place.

"It just looks like we weren’t able to get enough done. He is out for this one," head coach Pete Carroll said.

It's just the sixth regular season game Thomas has missed in his career. Thomas missed five regular season games and two playoff games for Seattle last season. A hamstring strain kept him out against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season before a broken leg forced him to miss the rest of the season.

McDougald started 36 games over the last three seasons for the Buccaneers before signing with Seattle this offseason to play in a reserve role. He has seen the field on defense this season as part of a "big nickel" package that substitutes McDougald instead of a cornerback in certain situations with an extra defensive back.

“My spirits have definitely been high since I’ve been here. I’m happy to be a part of this and I’ve been working to be a starter since I’ve been here so this is nothing different,” McDougald said.

McDougald has played in all seven games for Seattle and recorded 14 tackles.

"He is ready to play," Carroll said. "He knows everything. He communicates beautifully with our guys. Has been on the field a lot so it really doesn’t feel like newness. You are going to miss Earl just because Earl is Earl but Bradley will do a really good job."

The only other player ruled out for Seattle is guard Luke Joeckel, who continues to recover from knee surgery. However, Carroll said that cornerback Jeremy Lane is also unlikely to play due to thigh injury.

"He is not making it back, I don’t think," Carroll said. "Unless he can surprise us on Sunday. He wasn’t able to work this week yet."

Lane was included in a trade to Houston for new left tackle Duane Brown on Monday only to have his inclusion in the deal annulled when he failed a physical with the Texans. While it put Lane into a kind of "forced marriage" situation with the Seahawks after they tried to trade him, Carroll said he hasn't noticed anything out of the ordinary for Lane upon his return to the team on Thursday.

"He’s been fine," Carroll said. "I really haven’t noticed anything at all. I’ve hung out with him a little bit and he seems fine.”

Safety Kam Chancellor, linebacker Bobby Wagner, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, wide receiver Tanner McEvoy and running back C.J. Prosise were all listed as questionable.

Carroll declared Chancellor ready to go. Wagner and Richardson will be game-time decisions. Prosise all appears ready to return to the lineup but will be a game-time decision as well.

"He looked really good today," Carroll said of Prosise. "We really checked him out today. We are going to see how he feels tomorrow and all the way up to game day as well. But he looked to be at full speed, so we need to see if he can recover from it and be OK."

Duane Brown is also ready to go after three days of practice with his new team.

"He’s done exceptionally well," Carroll said. "Like we said earlier, the carry over that he had from six years being in the same system has really just ensured that he can make this transition as fast as you could possibly make it.  So he looks good. He has had good work. He has had a lot of reps and they really have fitted together well, communicating well at this point so we have every reason to think that he is going to play good football."

Photo Credit: SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 29: Running back Lamar Miller #26 of the Houston Texans rushes against free safety Earl Thomas #29 of the Seattle Seahawks during the third quarter of the game at CenturyLink Field on October 29, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)


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