SEATTLE -- The Seattle Seahawks will have to wait at least one more week to see their star pass-rush duo of Ezekiel Ansah and Jadeveon Clowney on the field together.
Ansah is inactive for the Seahawks' opener against the Cincinnati Bengals. He had been listed as questionable on Friday, with the team's final injury report listing his shoulder as the reason. Ansah had offseason surgery to repair a shoulder injury that cut his final season in Detroit short.
Clowney, acquired in a trade with the Houston Texans last weekend, is active, though his snaps may be limited given that he only has four practices with the Seahawks under his belt and missed all of the offseason during his contract dispute.
Ansah returned to practice two weeks ago after suffering a groin injury while training that delayed his return. Coach Pete Carroll had said the groin injury was holding Ansah out of practice and not his shoulder, which Carroll said was fully healed.
Ansah and Clowney were listed as limited participants in practice all last week.
Carroll said both made it through the week of practice without issue but that "we've just got to make sure on game day that everything worked out OK because they're still responding to the workload. So there's still a little bit of a question for Ziggy. We just want to make sure he's all right, but they both did really well, and really positive thoughts coming out."
Seahawks general manager John Schneider told the pregame show on 710 ESPN Seattle that the Seahawks are holding Ansah out as a "precaution" as opposed to the result of a setback.
"We thought it was going to be close," Schneider said of the Seahawks' expectation for Ansah's availability. "It's very much precautionary. It's long-term thinking here. Really, he had one week in the pads practicing, so when I say that, it's really two days. It was really a decision with Ziggy and sports science and our training staff. He's got to get out there and be comfortable, and we just weren't quite there. So when we did this, we knew it was going to come right down within these two, three weeks right in here, whether it was the last preseason game or the opener or maybe the second game. We knew it was going to be close. He's just not ready to go and we're not going to put him in harm's way."
The one-year, $9 million deal Ansah signed with the Seahawks in May includes $1.5 million in per-game roster bonuses tied to being active on game day. That means he misses out on $93,750 for being inactive for the opener. His contract includes another $1.5 million in bonuses tied to being on the team's 53-man roster each week, so Ansah made that amount by not beginning the season on injured reserve or the physically unable to perform list.
Seattle's other inactives are receivers David Moore, Gary Jennings and John Ursua, cornerback Parry Nickerson, center Joey Hunt and defensive end L.J. Collier. Moore (shoulder), Hunt (ankle) and Collier (ankle) were already ruled out.
The Bengals' inactives are tackle Cordy Glenn, receivers A.J. Green and Auden Tate, quarterback Jake Dolegala, halfback Trayveon Williams and defensive ends Jordan Willis and Andrew Brown.
Rookie DK Metcalf is one of only four active receivers for Seattle along with Tyler Lockett, Jaron Brown and Malik Turner.
Left guard Mike Iupati is active, having returned to practice this week after missing all of training camp and the preseason with injuries to his foot and calf. Ethan Pocic has been starting at left guard in his absence.
Carroll said Friday that Collier, Seattle's first-round pick, has a chance to be return next week.