{"id":29511,"date":"2016-08-11T08:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/seahawks-activate-graham-another-step-in-recovery\/"},"modified":"2016-08-11T08:00:12","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:00:12","slug":"seahawks-activate-graham-another-step-in-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/seahawks-activate-graham-another-step-in-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks activate Graham, another step in recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. <\/strong>\u2014 Jimmy Graham jogged out wearing his white Seattle practice uniform as usual on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Except this time, Graham was wearing his helmet, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are away from it for as long as I\u2019ve been, it\u2019s very sweet when you get the opportunity to do it again,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

Graham was activated off the physically unable to perform list by the Seahawks, another step in his recovery from his major knee injury last season. Coach Pete Carroll kept saying Graham was inching closer to a return, and one day after running back Thomas Rawls got back on the field, Graham joined in.<\/p>\n

Graham went through a light practice, doing some positional drills but not taking part in any full team work. It was his first time on the field with his teammates since Week 12 of last season when he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee in a game against Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Graham had surgery almost immediately after the injury and his right knee was completely immobilized for 11 to 12 weeks. The recovery from a patellar tendon tear can sometimes take up to a year but Graham was back on the field in less than nine months.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some dark days. It\u2019s been eight months and it\u2019s been a constant eight months,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been through something where every day you had to do something for it. Every day you wake up and until you go to bed you\u2019re doing some type of rehab. It\u2019s been like that for me for eight months and it will continue to be like that for me for the next eight months. It\u2019s something I\u2019m always going to have to pay attention to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham\u2019s injury happened as he attempted to pull in a pass in the end zone during Seattle\u2019s victory over the Steelers. Seattle had struggled to find the best ways to utilize Graham even before the injury. Some games he was dominant over the middle. Some games he mostly disappeared.<\/p>\n

Graham already had four catches in the game against the Steelers before going down. He finished the season with 48 receptions and two touchdowns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pain was pretty terrible. That\u2019s for sure,\u201d Graham said. \u201cAnd when you look down at your knee and don\u2019t see your kneecap you know something is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the lingering question is whether he still has the speed and agility that made him such a difficult matchup prior to the injury. A number of players have been unable to return to form after a patellar tendon tear. New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who had the same injury, told Graham not to rush his return.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think about how other guys have been or what it\u2019s done to other guys,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI think I\u2019m a little different. I\u2019m still fast, which is real good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Graham now wants to start rebuilding his link with quarterback Russell Wilson. It\u2019s unlikely that Graham will play in the preseason and he jokingly said he\u2019s not allowed to say whether he\u2019ll be ready for the season opener against Miami on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for me to start that connection with Russ. I think we both felt it,\u201d Graham said. \u201cI\u2019ve been out here busting my butt every morning and every afternoon, so it\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTES: Second-round pick DT Jarran Reed left the field Wednesday after appearing to have his left ankle stepped on during a drill. Reed limped off to the sideline under his own power but was taken to the locker room by cart. There was no update on his status. … WR Doug Baldwin returned to limited work after missing the past week when his Achilles\u2019 tendon was stepped on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RENTON, Wash. \u2014 Jimmy Graham jogged out wearing his white Seattle practice uniform as usual on Wednesday. Except this time, Graham was wearing his helmet, too. \u201cWhen you are away from it for as long as I\u2019ve been, it\u2019s very sweet when you get the opportunity to do it again,\u201d Graham said. Graham was activated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-29511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29511"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=29511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}