Sore knee sidelines Seahawks’ Baldwin

Before they even get to August, the Seahawks have “a little bit of a problem” at wide receiver.

Pro Bowl pass catcher Doug Baldwin will miss at least the next couple weeks and perhaps longer with a knee issue he developed before reporting for the start of training camp last week. Baldwin watched practice for the third consecutive day on Tuesday, chatting with general manager John Schneider during some of it.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was vague following Tuesday’s practice when asked exactly what Baldwin’s injury is, other than saying it was a “sore knee.”

“We are going to give him a couple weeks here before we bring him back out, to make sure we ramp him back up properly,” Carroll said. “He came into camp a little bit, a little bit off. So we just want to make sure that we take care of him.

“We know exactly what is going on. He’s doing some special treatments to make sure that we are taking care of it. And we wanted to bring him back into shape so we can get him ready for the long haul.”

The specific injury?

“He’s got a knee,” the coach said.

So, Baldwin’s like the rest of us.

“It’s a little bit of a problem,” Carroll said.

So is the depth of healthy Seahawks receivers right now.

Brandon Marshall, the 34-year-old with six 100-catch seasons in the NFL whom Seattle signed this offseason, has yet to practice fully with his new team. He’s coming off toe and ankle surgeries and a season with the New York Giants cut short after five games.

And David Moore watched Tuesday’s practice while standing with Baldwin, each wearing team caps instead of blue helmets. Moore was a standout in the first days of camp. But now he has a hip-flexor “thing,” Carroll said.

So “a little bit of a problem,” two surgeries and “thing” left quarterback Russell Wilson throwing to Tyler Lockett, Jaron Brown, Amara Darboh, Marcus Johnson, Keenan Reynolds, Tanner McEvoy, Cyril Grayson and other, even-less-accomplished guys five days into training camp.

What does that mean to Wilson and the Seahawks’ offense?

Baldwin is Seattle’s $46 million wide receiver. He has been selected for the last two Pro Bowls. Wilson has thrown to Baldwin 344 times the last three seasons, an average of seven targets per regular-season game. That’s produced 247 catches and 29 touchdowns. One-third of Wilson’s 89 touchdown throws in all games to all receivers over the last three years have gone to Baldwin.

Baldwin tied Bobby Engram’s team record for receptions in a seasons with 94 in 2016. He led the NFL with 14 touchdown catches in 2015.

Reynolds is a former quarterback for Navy. Grayson was a star track runner at LSU.

Baldwin and Marshall have combined for 1,402 catches and 126 touchdowns in their careers.

Lockett, Brown, Darboh, Johnson, Reynolds, McEvoy and Grayson have 250 catches and 20 TDs combined between all their NFL careers.

Good thing for the Seahawks their first game is still 5 1/2 weeks away.

At least two of those weeks, or more, will be with their star pass catcher watching.