Time to panic yet?

The question has become a chorus when it comes to a pair of the Seahawks' most important players.

Cornerback Marcus Trufant has yet to practice and remains on the physically unable to perform list because of a back injury. Walter Jones is coming back from microfracture surgery on his knee and has yet to practice on consecutive days during this training camp.

So should alarm bells be ringing? Is the team headquarters at Defcon 4 2?

It's a question that's going to be asked in various ways, and there is no definitive answer. Not yet.

Would the Seahawks be better if Trufant and Jones were playing right now? Absolutely. It would make everyone more comfortable.

But the fact that they're not playing right now does not mean that disaster is imminent and neither is going to be able to play this season.

It is worth watching and monitoring however. Trufant suffered a back injury three weeks ago, which resulted in him being placed on the physically unable to perform list. That's a big, scary way of saying he didn't pass a physical. It also affords the team some wiggle room when it comes to his regular-season status.

If Trufant is not ready to play when the regular season begins, he can stay on the physically unable to perform list. He wouldn't count against the 53-man roster at that point, but he also wouldn't be eligible to play until after the sixth game of the season.

The fact that he's on the list doesn't mean the Seahawks expect him to miss those games, but Seahawks coach Jim Mora has not used the word "minor" or "tweak" to describe Trufant's back, either.

In talking to other sources outside the team concerning Trufant, I've been told the recovery is proceeding cautiously. And while Trufant has not practiced, I have seen him. He's not bed-ridden or in traction somewhere on a training table. He's up and moving around.

Is the situation ideal? Hardly. A cover cornerback has a back injury that's kept him from practicing for three weeks. That's not good, and you need only look at Seattle's 2008 season to see how a back injury can become a condition that afflicts a team's season (see: Hasselbeck, Matt). But Trufant is not a rookie. He doesn't need to compete for his spot in training camp. What's important is that he's ready to go when games start mattering. So far there's been no indication that there are doubts he'll be ready. It's a situation to keep monitoring.

Jones' status is just as uncertain. I was surprised that he was ready to practice when training camp began. Here was a big man, who had microfracture surgery performed on his knee in December.

Now, that's a word that conjures up a lot of dire prognosis. It's changed the careers of NBA players like Kenyon Martin and Anfernee Hardaway, and Jets running back Curtis Martin never really came back after undergoing the procedure.

But there are other examples of players who have recovered. Jason Kidd underwent the procedure. So did Seattle linebacker Will Herring in 2008, and he returned within a year. The procedure seems to curtail athletes who are stop-on-a-dime, above-the-rim-type players. That's not Jones, and not only that, but it has been pointed out that it was surgery on a non weight-bearing portion of the knee.

But it's not Jones' knee that's bothering him. It's not his shoulder, either, which has been a recurring injury in his career. It's his back, and that's bothersome if only because it's clear how hard Jones has worked to get back in time for the start of training camp and to return to practice last Thursday.

Measuring Jones' readiness in training camp is a tough thing to do. Two years ago, coach Mike Holmgren poked fun when reporters asked for daily updates on Jones' status after he'd missed a few practices. By Day 5, Holmgren was tired.

"We're not going to have one of these diary, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8 are we?" Holmgren said. "He's going to be fine. He's fine."

And he was. He missed the first two exhibition games, came in and once the regular season began was his usual Pro Bowl self.

Now, obviously, this is a different situation. He's a couple years older and coming off a significant surgery. But before anyone starts predicting dogs and cats living together, anarchy in the streets, let's just remember this is Jones we're talking about. A player who went from 1998 through 2007 without missing a single game because of injury. That's 10 consecutive seasons.

Is his status right now something worth worry? Absolutely. This is a man recovering from knee surgery who suffered back spasms severe enough to warrant a magnetic-resonance image (MRI) at the beginning of the month.

It's a situation that will be monitored. Is it worth a sky-falling prognosis. Not yet. Not given his history of playing at a high level regardless of how much he participates in training camp.