Seahawks' Marcus Trufant returns to practice

RENTON — For more than two months, cornerback Marcus Trufant's back was a question mark.

On Tuesday, Trufant was simply back. The former Pro Bowl cornerback practiced for the first time all season after recovering from a disk injury.

"I want to play right now," Trufant said afterward. "I wish we had a game this week."

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Tuesday was one 90-minute practice during the Seahawks' bye week before playing at Dallas on Nov. 1.

"I'm working hard and I hope that I can play in Dallas," Trufant said, "but we'll kind of see how things go."

Same goes for linebacker Leroy Hill, who practiced. He has been out since the season opener because of a groin injury that required surgery.

Tuesday was a start in that regard, Trufant's first practice since suffering a back injury in the week before training camp began.

He was not cleared to begin practicing on July 31 and was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list. A few weeks later, coach Jim Mora said Trufant was diagnosed with a disk injury.

"It just kind of came out of nowhere," Trufant said. "As a younger player, you kind of bounce back from a lot of things. So you never really know, and with back injuries, it kind of can happen over time. You never really know how it happened or what you could have done to prevent it until it puts you on the sidelines."

Trufant wasn't even on the sideline in August. He worked out in the training room, rehabilitating the injury, but was not ready to play when the Seahawks roster was trimmed to 53 players on Sept. 5.

Trufant remained on the physically-unable-to-perform list, and wasn't eligible to return until after the sixth game. That's this week. Seattle has until its 10th week to activate Trufant, who said he is following a new conditioning program to keep the injury from recurring.

"A little bit of maintenance here and there," Trufant said.

But he's back, and so is Hill, the weakside linebacker, who suffered a groin injury when he missed a tackle of Rams running back Steven Jackson during the first half of Seattle's season opener.

"It was odd," Hill said. "I wasn't touched. It was something that happened. It just snapped."

The injury occurred in part because of poor tackling form. Hill's legs were too far apart, a wide base. He had surgery to repair the injury, and Tuesday he practiced for the first time, too.

"I felt perfect," Hill said.

The Seahawks aren't perfect at 2-4, but they are getting healthier with two defensive starters returning to practice.

Williams waived

The Seahawks waived Kyle Williams from their 53-man roster Tuesday. Williams became the third player to start at left tackle for the Seahawks on Sunday, replacing Brandon Frye, who was filling in for Sean Locklear, who was playing in place of Walter Jones.

Williams practiced with the team Tuesday during the bye week, and he is eligible to be signed to the team's practice squad, which is where he began the season. Williams is in his third season with the Seahawks. He started two games at tackle because of injuries at the end of last season.

Neither Locklear nor Jones have resumed practicing, but Seattle did sign Damion McIntosh last week, and with more than 100 starts in his career, he would be a candidate to start at left tackle should Locklear be unable to play.

Expect the Seahawks to add an offensive lineman as soon as today.

Note

• LB Lofa Tatupu watched practice wearing a No. 51 jersey. No word on his prognosis for the injured pectoral muscle and whether he will require season-ending surgery.