Chris Carson needs disc-fusion neck surgery. Seahawks told he may be back late spring

Chris Carson is having a cervical-fusion surgery in his neck with a good prognosis for him returning to play with the Seahawks next season.

Coach Pete Carroll gave those details Monday, while stating his 27-year-old lead running back has yet to have the procedure. Carroll said Friday Carson needed surgery and his 2021 season was over.

Carson, who gained more than 2,300 yards rushing in the 2018 and ‘19 seasons for Seattle, has been on injured reserve since last playing Oct. 3 at San Francisco.

“It’s going to be a little bit before he does it, but from what I understand, he’s going to get a ... he’s got a disc issue that needs to be fused,” Carroll said.

“So that’s a surgery that can get him back somewhere late in the spring, is what I’ve heard. So we’ll see what happens with that.”

Next season is the latter one on Carson’s two-year, $10.4 million contract he signed before this season. He got $5.5 million guaranteed for this season. He was to be new play caller Shane Waldron’s basis for a revamped Seahawks offense. But he’s played just four games, and last-place Seattle (3-7) has been at the bottom of the NFL in offense most of this skidding season.

The Seahawks are confident the disc-fusion surgery will end Carson’s long-term neck discomfort and allow the punishing runner to return to playing uninhibited in 2022.

“What we are getting is that it’s going to be something that’s very doable and he will be able to return,” Carroll said. “That’s what we’ve heard.”

A 2016 study published Philadelphia-based Wolters Kluwer Health said 34 NFL players had a surgery that Carroll described Carson as getting. Those 34 players had a procedure that “consisted of spinal fusion (a procedure called anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, or ACDF),” the study said. “Four players developed degenerative disease at an adjacent vertebral level, requiring additional surgery. While this is a serious complication, it appeared to be no more frequent than in non-athletes undergoing ACDF.”

The study said 67% of NFL players studied from 1979-2013 who had surgery in their upper spine/neck area for cervical disc herniation “were able to return to play after surgery and rehabilitation. ... (the) recovery time was about nine months.

“On average, players continued playing for about 44 games and three years” after such a surgery in the upper spine/neck, the study found.

Carson briefly shopped in free agency this past spring but found the running-back market cratered on him. That was partly because of the nature of the NFL’s most-injured position with the shortest career lengths and because Carson has yet to play a full season injury-free since junior college.

He ultimately returned to the Seahawks on a two-year contract worth $10,425,000. He received $5.5 million guaranteed for 2021, less than he had been seeking since the summer of 2020 when coming off seasons with 1,151 yards and 1,230 yards rushing in 2018 and ‘19, respectively.

Carson earned little of the up to $6.9 million he could have received in incentive bonuses in this first year of his two-year contract.