Jake Bobo knew.
The pain and frustration on his face were obvious.
His teammates looked and felt the same way.
Bobo, the fourth-year wide receiver and special-teams mainstay who made the Seahawks as an undrafted rookie with will on top of skill, sustained a major knee injury Friday leaping to catch a pass early in the Super Bowl champions’ joint practice with the Tennessee Titans.
Early in scrimmaging at the Vanderbilt Health Football Center, Bobo jumped high to catch a pass at the sideline Titans linebacker James Williams broke it up. As Bobo came down to the grass he landed awkwardly on his leg. It buckled under him.
As a motorized cart came onto the field both teams stopped practicing. Seahawks and Titans players took a knee and said a prayer for Bobo, who caught a touchdown pass in Seattle’s It could be a torn anterior cruciate ligament, at least. Those take eight to 12 months of lonely, arduous rehabilitation to come back from. Though torn ACLs are now an increasingly common injury, a return to full capabilities after a knee reconstruction remains no sure thing.
Quarterback Sam Darnold spoke for his teammates describing how they felt seeing Bobo leave the field on the back of a cart Friday.
“It hurts,” Darnold said.
He described Bobo as more than a fifth wide receiver who plays on coach Jay Harbaugh’s special-teams units. He said he was the offense’s spiritual leader who loves to get after and rile up opposing defensive players. In that way, Darnold likened Bobo to the defense’s Devon Witherspoon, Seattle’s three-time Pro Bowl cornerback who relentless talks trash to offensive players.
“He talks a lot of...stuff. Kind of like ‘Spoon,’” Darnold said of Bobo. “He brings the juice, every, single day. And he just does his job.
“So it sucks to lose Bobo.
“But I know he’s going to attack it,” Darnold said of Bobo’s rehabilitation from the injury, “and be better whenever he comes back.”
Seahawks’ next man up
It’s cold to note on the same day Bobo’s season apparently ended, but his injury opens the door for Montorie Foster Jr. to make the 53-man roster the Seahawks must set by the NFL deadline of Aug. 30.Foster, 24, was in Santa Clara, California, in February.
Seattle signed him to a futures contract in January. That got Foster on the 90-man offseason roster. Foster made great catches through spring practices. In this training camp that began last month, Foster keeps making great catches, including one-handed catches in the end zone for touchdowns. He plays on all the special teams, including as a gunner on the punt team. The Seahawks lost their gunner from last season Dareke Young in free agency to the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason.
Foster made another wowing catch Friday in Tennessee. He leaped high in the air to catch a pass over a Titans defender. He landed hard on his side. Foster stayed down, holding his leg and yelling in pain. It appeared the Seahawks had another major injury to a wide receiver out of this joint practice.
But after it, Macdonald said Foster had leg cramps because of the feels-like temperature of 100 degrees under a blazing sun in the Nashville humidity.
Abe Lucas, the team’s starting left tackle, left the practice midway through it. He walked off with a trainer. Macdonald said Lucas’ issue was also heat-related.
Foster’s emergence coinciding with Bobo’s major injury Friday seems to point to Foster making the Super Bowl champions’ roster coming out of this preseason. When St. Edward High calls him back in the coming weeks to fill-in teach again as the kids come back to school, it looks like Foster is going to have to tell them no.
The risks these guys take
The Seahawks like the 28-year-old Bobo so much, they in late June.
This is what the newlyweds, professional athletes, particularly pro football players, sign up for: The high risk of injury that can change a career in one play. It’s why guys seek to get all the money they can when they can, as much guaranteed as they can, before their earning potential plummets.
Darnold, 29, thought a moment about that before he said: “Just like any sport, right, injuries happen. But it just puts everything in perspective.
“Like I said, he’s going to come back better than ever. But you never know when stuff like that is going to happen.
“Every, single play, you just continue to push, and give it all you can. I know that’s all he does. That’s what it’s such a shame that it happened to him.”
