Seahawks’ Terrell Owens to debut Saturday vs. Broncos

Seattle Seahawks receiver Terrell Owens, who is far from guaranteed a roster spot on the team, will make his return to the NFL in Friday night’s preseason game against Denver.

Seattle coach Pete Carroll didn’t give specifics on how many snaps Owens will get in the second preseason game for the Seahawks, but he did say it would be early in the game. Owens, 38, missed the entire 2011 season because of a knee injury

Owens arrived in camp in excellent shape and has looked impressive at times during practice. But if he’s to make the Seahawks’ final roster, Owens will need to show in a game that he’s fully recovered from a knee injury that kept him out of the NFL last season. Saturday’s game will be Owens’ first NFL game action since Week 15 of the 2010 season with Cincinnati. Owens went without a catch in that final game against Cleveland.

“He’s ready to go,” Carroll said. “He had two good weeks of work, and he came in in great shape so he’s ready to go.”

Owens likely is competing against Braylon Edwards for roster spot. Edwards led all Seahawks WRs in Saturday’s preseason opener against with 51 yards on two receptions (including a TD).

Fellow WR Sidney Rice, who finally got out of the red (no-contact) jersey this week, still isn’t ready for game action. Carroll won’t say who all won’t play Saturday, but one person you may not see again is Marshawn Lynch. It isn’t that Lynch is injured, but rather that there is little value in getting your star running back beat up in meaningless games.

Meanwhile, it’s the second game in a Broncos uniform for Peyton Manning. He played just one series in last week’s 31-3 victory in Chicago. Manning got intercepted near the goal line on the game’s opening possession and watched from the sideline the rest of the way. Manning completed 4 of 7 passes for 44 yards.

The Broncos starters will get just over a quarter’s worth of work Saturday, at least a half’s worth of work in the third preseason game with the fourth preseason game usually left for the reserves to handle. Saturday’s game is currently a pick’em at WagerWeb.com.

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