Latest injury leaves Seahawks thin along defensive front

KIRKLAND, Wash. — The Seahawks thought they had addressed one of their biggest concerns when they drafted Red Bryant in April.

In August, they are back to the same old worries along their defensive line.

The team announced Friday that rookie defensive tackle Bryant was scheduled for knee surgery and will miss at least a month.

The fourth-round draft choice from Texas A&M injured cartilage in his left knee this week during training camp and is expected to be out four or five weeks, according to coach Mike Holmgren and a team spokesman. Seattle drafted the future son-in-law of legendary Seahawk Jacob Green to back up Brandon Mebane this season on the defensive line. Bryant is engaged to Green’s daughter Janelle.

The defensive line has been one hurting unit in the last year.

Starting defensive tackle Rocky Bernard is coming off surgery for a double hernia. Fellow starter Marcus Tubbs had knee surgery and is currently on the physically-unable-to-perform list. Tubbs had both knees wrapped while hobbling onto the field to watch the end of Friday morning’s practice, though he could return to limited workouts next week.

Veteran defensive tackle Larry Tripplett, formerly of the University of Washington and signed in the offseason for depth, also missed Friday while wearing a black sleeve over his right leg. And end Chris Cooper also was out, with a knee injury. The Seahawks expect those two back on the field next week, but the line will be so thin for today’s only full team scrimmage of the summer that volunteers may want to line up for duty at Qwest Field.

If form holds, new running back Julius Jones will have a huge scrimmage today.

The Seahawks are holding their one public workout at the stadium Jones likes as much as his own bed.

The fifth-year veteran gained 198 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns for Dallas in a game at Qwest Field in 2004. Then on Jan. 6, 2007, in the NFC playoffs, Jones ran for 112 yards on 22 tries in a game the Cowboys would have won if holder Tony Romo hadn’t dropped the snap on a potential game-winning field goal late.

“I can’t wait. I can’t wait to get over there to scrimmage and play in the stadium. I love playing over there,” Jones said. “It’s a live situation, full tackling. It’ll be good to really get into it.”

The scrimmage will involve game-like situations, though the quarterbacks aren’t supposed to get hit and the kicking game will be controlled.

QUICK HITS: The fundamental problem of snapping the ball to the QBs continued Friday. Backup guard Mansfield Wrotto, forced to be the second-team center because starter Chris Spencer and backup Chris Gray are each out until at least next week with back injuries, fouled up three snaps during the morning practice. At first Holmgren was yelling again. Later, he simply dropped his head and stared silently into the grass. Reserve guard Steve Vallos, the fill-in center for the first-team offense, had issues with snaps earlier this week. ... Rookie second-round pick John Carlson gave a glimpse as to why the Seahawks expect him to start at TE. Carlson ran past starting LB Leroy Hill down the middle of the field and caught Matt Hasselbeck’s perfectly placed deep pass during a 2-minute offense drill. Many on the sidelines simply nodded their heads knowingly.