Seattle Seahawks place Jeremy Lane on short-term IR

The Seattle Seahawks still have one of the cornerback groupings in the NFL despite the losses of Walter Thurmond and Brandon Browner this offseason, but they were dealt a tough blow when nickel corner Jeremy Lane went down with a groin injury in the third quarter of the team’s win over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night. It always looked like a significant injury, and we now know that he will be out for at least half of the season.

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Per a source close to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Seahawks have placed Lane on the short-term injured reserve today, thus clearing a roster spot and the chance of him returning, but it also means that he can’t come back until mid-season. Tharold Simon will move up to become the team’s nickel corner, and he seems like a tailor-made replacement based on how well he played in the offseason. The Seahawks excel at finding top talent at corner and have such a deep roster that the “next man up” philosophy is embodied everywhere. They are going to be fine in the long run and, just as Byron Maxwell and Lane emerged as studs last year with Thurmond and Browner out, Simon could prove to be the next great ‘Hawks CB.

Lane’s loss is a tough one, though, because he is a very talented CB and one of the most underrated players in the entire NFL, especially when you take into account his elite play on special teams.