National Football League

Seahawks veterans Grant, Kerney having surgeries

Published Jan. 7, 2010 8:49 p.m. ET

foxsports

Seattle Seahawks safety Deon Grant is having wrist surgery and defensive end Patrick Kerney will undergo elbow surgery.

Each hope it's not his last act with the team.

The Seahawks announced Thursday that both veterans were due to have their operations later in the day.

The 30-year-old Grant played the last six games with a cast over his left wrist. He said this week that Dr. Carlton Keck, a specialist in Seattle, was to place pins in his wrist and reconstruct a torn ligament. The team expects Grant to be fully recovered by late April or May.

The 33-year-old Kerney is having surgery to remove loose cartilage and bone fragments in his left elbow. The team said in a statement it considers the procedure routine and that Kerney's recovery time should be four to six weeks.

Neither veteran is sure to return to Seattle, which will be rebuilding with a new general manager following a second consecutive losing season.

Grant is part of a secondary that has often been overmatched against better passing offenses the last two seasons, especially as Seattle's pass rush - which Kerney leads - became anemic.

Monday, Grant said he wanted to return to the Seahawks, who signed him as a free agent from Jacksonville in 2007. Grant has three years remaining on his non-guaranteed contract, at salaries of $4 million, $6 million and $7 million each season through 2012.

He may have to re-negotiate those numbers to stay.

``There's definitely going to be changes,'' Grant said. ``Contract-wise, you know, I'm supposed to be here. We'll see.''

Kerney was an All-Pro with 14 1/2 sacks in 2007, his first season with Seattle after leaving Atlanta and signing a six-year, $39.5 million contract that included $19.5 million guaranteed. But he had just five sacks in an injury plagued 2008 when the Seahawks finished 4-12, and just five more this season as Seattle went 5-11. The Seahawks tied for 26th in the league in sacks in 2009, with just 28 in 16 games.

Kerney said after Sunday's season finale he ``absolutely'' would like to come back to Seattle next season but added, ``that's not up to me.''

``This year, (I) didn't create enough production for this team, there's no doubt about that,'' he said.

Coach Jim Mora said the only other player due for surgery was reserve wide receiver Mike Hass, who dislocated his shoulder in the only game he played this season, two weeks ago at Green Bay.

Mora also said he expects to know by March whether Walter Jones will play for the Seahawks in 2010. The six-time All-Pro left tackle, who turns 36 this month, has not played since Thanksgiving Day 2008 following microfracture surgery on his left knee.

Jones is headed back to Florida for more rehabilitation and says he hopes to give it ``one last run'' with the team that drafted him sixth overall in 1997.