Jimmy Graham might not be ready for the start of the season, the Seattle Seahawks have admitted.

The tight end is still working back from a ruptured patellar tendon.

"We've had no issues at all in the work he's doing on the field," Pete Carroll said. "That will continue to increase throughout the next few weeks. Really we're shooting for: Where is he at the start of the season? And we'll evaluate then on how much longer it may take, or he may be ready. We don't know that yet. But he feels good."

The coach added: "There's some evaluation to be done going into next week, but I don't have any expectations for that right now. We'll just wait and see. We don't have a timetable for this; that he has to meet any schedule at all. We're just working him back, and he's gaining confidence, and it's really important not to have any setbacks. So we're being careful.

"With three really big weeks coming up here, we'll see how he goes. We'll be continuing to progress him more with the action around him and stuff. He's doing fine running routes and catching balls, and he looks good doing all that stuff."