Seahawks scramble to replace Nate Burleson after season-ending knee injury

RENTON — Nate Burleson's characteristic wide grin and fun-loving attitude were missing Monday, and for a very good reason.

Burleson received some bad news. So did the Seahawks and their fans. The effervescent wide receiver and punt returner is lost for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

Burleson's injury, suffered in the third quarter of Sunday's 34-10 season-opening loss at Buffalo, will require surgery. Burleson planted while running a route and his left knee gave out. He originally thought the injury was less serious, but an MRI exam confirmed the torn ACL.

"I looked down and I saw my knee go right to left, and I collapsed," Burleson said. "I couldn't move. I didn't know it was that bad, I just knew it wasn't good.

"Things like this, they happen for a reason. You've got to deal with the good and the bad. I know I'll probably have a tough journey for the next few months but at the end of the day I'm a football player, so I'll be back on that field soon."

Burleson said he felt a tweak in his knee earlier in the game but continued to play. After returning to Seattle on Sunday night, Burleson said he thought team doctors would tell him he'd miss only a few weeks. Holmgren said doctors originally thought it was an injury to Burleson's posterior cruciate ligament.

Burleson said he was shocked to hear the diagnosis.

Now the Seahawks are more short-handed then ever at the position. Burleson and Ben Obomanu are out for the year. Obomanu was injured in the exhibition finale. Deion Branch and Bobby Engram, already dealing with injuries, are likely out this week, coach Mike Holmgren said Monday. That left the Seahawks with three available receivers on the active roster Monday: Logan Payne, Jordan Kent and Courtney Taylor.

All three are in their second years as Seahawks — Payne and Kent are about to play their second games in the NFL. Their inexperience showed Sunday, and Burleson's injury sent team executives and coaches into scramble mode Monday afternoon.

Holmgren said a personnel meeting was scheduled to address the situation. One possibility is elevating rookie Michael Bumpus from the practice squad, but it seems more likely that the team will sign a veteran free agent.

"We don't have much of a choice right now," Holmgren said. "If there are guys out there that played for us at one time and kind of understood it [the Seattle offense] maybe that would be the way to go."

One possibility is veteran Bryan Gilmore, who has played for this week's opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, and spent training camp and the exhibition season with the Seahawks. Maurice Mann, a formers Seahawks practice squad member, was waived by Washington at the end of August.

Not that big-name players who have never been Seahawks aren't being considered. Among the prominent possibilities are Joe Horn, Reche Caldwell, Keenan McCardell and Peerless Price.

Horn's agent talked with the Seahawks a week and a half ago but said his client could draw interest from Cleveland or Tennessee. Also the Seahawks are thought to be bringing Mark Bradford, a receiver released by Dallas last month, in for a workout this week.

"The terminology might be a little different," Holmgren said when asked about bringing in a receiver who isn't familiar with the offense. "But if you tell him what route to run and things like that, you can get through it."

Holmgren said the Seahawks' personnel department has a hot list and an emergency list of players at every position.

"We'll look at those guys, and you look at guys that were in training camp, perhaps with you, that the transition would be easier," Holmgren said. "But my feeling is that we need a couple of guys that have played the game a little bit, and so that might go to a different pool of players."

Holmgren would not yet say if Kent would replace Burleson as a starter along with Taylor. Seneca Wallace, the backup quarterback who got in a few plays at wide receiver Sunday and caught punts, could also be an option at both positions this week.

"It's a huge loss and we've got to get some answers," quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said.