APThe season began with one member of the Legion of Boom serving as the punt returner. The experiment with safety Earl Thomas went poorly, and the plug was pulled quickly.
Quietly, another member of the team’s secondary assumed the duties last week, with receiver Bryan Walters injured.
Richard Sherman filled in against the Panthers, returning one punt seven yards (a holding penalty wiped it out) and making a fair catch. He could be doing it again this week, against the Raiders.
“It depends,” Carroll told reporters on Wednesday. “It depends on who’s available. Really, we were going to go with Doug [Baldwin] last week and Doug needed a break at the time and [Sherman] jumped in to relieve to help us out. He’s not, in our minds, the guy that’s going back to return punts all the time but he is a guy that does a great job of all the situations and knows what’s happening. He’s as well schooled as any of the guys that haven’t been catching punts and he pulled it off last week.”
Using Sherman raises the same concerns that using Thomas did. Sherman could get injured, and he could end up making a mistake — like the three Thomas made in the first half of the season opener against the Packers.
