Devon Witherspoon missed the opening two days of his first Seahawks training camp amid a contract dispute. Now the Seattle secondary is once again without the fifth overall pick in this year's draft.

Witherspoon is dealing with a hamstring injury and, though head coach Pete Carroll says it is not serious, the Seahawks are taking no chances with a player they view as a potential cornerstone of the team. Carroll told reporters:

"He had a little hamstring thing again. Same leg, different spot. Not the same area. It doesn’t seem serious. He’s moving around and all of that, but we have to be careful there. I don’t have anything to give you. I don’t think it’s going to be a long time though, but I don’t know that."

Witherspoon's injury will obviously keep him out of Thursday's preseason opener against the Vikings. Given the nature of the issue, the Seahawks may want to keep Witherspoon out of the entire exhibition schedule to avoid aggravating it.

Seattle did get some positive news on the injury front, with Carroll revealing Darrell Taylor (shoulder) and Kenneth Walker III (groin) are each showing signs of progress.

“Both are improving and are making their charge coming back. I’m really excited about Darrell. He’s really encouraged that he’s coming back and feeling more normal. We won’t know about that until he starts using the shoulder and functioning it. He does feel way better. Kenny will tell you the same. Kenny is running full speed straight ahead right now. That’s a really good sign. The next thing is to get him cutting and swerving and all that. That’s coming up in the next couple of days. Next week will be an interesting week to see how much he can do. I’d like to get him back on the practice field where’s he getting work.”

The preseason games are not a necessity for Taylor and Walker. Carroll, though, added that he would like to see all the rookies play in preseason. However, it is extremely unlikely that desire will lead him to rush a player of Witherspoon's importance to the Seahawks' present and future back before he is ready.

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