Russell Wilson plays without knee brace for 1st time since Week 3 injury

BySheil Kapadia ESPN logo
Sunday, January 8, 2017

SEATTLE --Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson will play without a knee brace Saturday for the first time since he suffered a sprained MCL injury in Week 3.

Wilson said Wednesday that he was considering ditching the knee brace. He came out of the tunnel in full uniform about one hour before kickoff Saturday and was not wearing the brace on his left knee.

"My leg is good," Wilson said Wednesday. "I think it's just more a safety thing. I don't think it's necessarily bad or necessarily have to [wear a brace] or anything like that."

Wilson suffered a right ankle injury in Week 1, a sprained MCL in his left knee in Week 3 and a strained pectoral muscle in Week 7.

The knee issue is the one that has continued to linger. Wilson hasn't missed a start, but his mobility has been limited. His 259 rushing yards during the regular season were a career low.

"I don't know if he's 100 percent," offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said Tuesday. "He's probably not running 4.4, like he did when he was coming out of the combine, but obviously, he still runs well enough to be able to do the things we need him to do."