Ethan Pocic's Status Looms Large as Seahawks Brace for Aaron Donald, Rams

It's never good to lose a starting center to injury, but in Seattle's case, there couldn't be a worse possible week for such a scenario to unfold as the team prepares to face off against a future Hall of Famer in Donald.

As the Seahawks begin preparations for a critical NFC West matchup against the Rams on Sunday, they are dealing with numerous key injuries on both sides of the football, including their top two running backs and both starting cornerbacks.

But with Seattle set to square off once again with superstar defensive tackle Aaron Donald, who already has 9.0 sacks and 15 quarterback hits in eight games this season, those injuries may no longer be the most concerning after glancing at Wednesday's practice report.

Despite playing every snap in last Sunday's 44-34 loss to the Bills, starting center Ethan Pocic did not practice on Wednesday due to a concussion. This surprising development puts his status for this weekend in doubt, as he will have to get out of protocol by Friday to have a realistic shot at suiting up.

Named the starting center at the end of training camp, Pocic has been one of Seattle's most pleasant surprises on either side of the football. He has started all eight games at the pivot position and according to Sports Info Solutions, the former second-round pick out of LSU hasn't been penalized once and has yet to give up a sack in pass protection.

If Pocic isn't able to make it back for Sunday's contest, the Seahawks have limited depth at the center position. B.J. Finney, who Pocic beat out for the starting job in camp, was dealt to the Bengals as part of the trade for defensive end Carlos Dunlap along with a seventh-round pick. His departure leaves Kyle Fuller as the only backup on the roster.

Now in his fourth NFL season, Fuller has yet to play an offensive snap this season, but he does have prior starting experience. During his rookie season with the Texans in 2017, he started in two games and played 89 total snaps. The following year, he suited up in two games for Washington and logged 56 snaps.

Still, that's a very small sample size and asking Fuller to step into the lineup against a Herculean talent such as Donald would be an exceptionally tall task. But Seattle may not have any other alternatives.

Due to the NFL's COVID-19 testing protocols, incoming players must pass five tests in six days before being allowed to enter the facility or practice. Those strict rules make it impossible for any team to add outside free agents during the week with hopes of them playing the following weekend.

Seattle already experienced the downside of these necessary protocols with Dunlap, who had to start testing all over again despite having been in the program with Cincinnati. As a result, he didn't start practicing until last week and didn't play against San Francisco in Week 8.

In a normal season, the Seahawks likely would have considered bringing back veteran Justin Britt, who started at center the past four seasons. Or they could have brought back another familiar face in Joey Hunt, who started eight games for them last season and could be signed off the Colts practice squad.

But given current circumstances, Britt or Hunt would not have been able to practice until next Monday at the earliest, so those options are out the window.

Aside from Fuller, the only other alternative that could be considered would be activating Phil Haynes from injured reserve as an insurance option. The second-year lineman has primarily played guard in the NFL, but he did get some practice work last year at center. Again, that would be putting a young player with no game experience at the position into an impossible situation trying to block Donald after snapping the ball.

It's still early enough in the week that Pocic could be out of concussion protocol in time to play on Sunday. But teams can't rush players back from head injuries and with two games in a five-game span coming up, the Seahawks may err on the side of caution, which would leave them short-handed at a very important position against arguably the best player in the NFL.