Seahawks place second-year wide receiver Dareke Young on injured reserve

RENTON — The Seattle Seahawks placed second-year wide receiver Dareke Young on injured reserve on Monday meaning he will miss the first four games of the regular season.

Seattle general manager John Schneider said Young underwent groin surgery just over a week ago near Philadelphia and will need some time before he’s fully recovered.

“We just wanted to use the IR to return designation to be able to let him rehab and be able to have him down the line as quickly as we can get him back,” Schneider said. “Timelines are all different with that sort of thing. But once he went to Philadelphia it seemed like he was probably going to have surgery.”

Young was poised to have the chance at a bigger role in Seattle’s offense this season with Dee Eskridge suspended for the first six games of the season. Young appeared in 13 games last season, but mostly on special teams and had just two receptions in his limited reps with the offense.

Young being placed on injured reserve leaves Seattle with five wide receivers to start the season: DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jake Bobo and Cody Thompson.

Seattle signed interior offensive lineman Ben Brown off the practice squad to take Young’s roster spot. Brown was in training camp with Cincinnati before being cut by the Bengals last week.

Schneider also didn’t give indications if rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon would be ready for the season opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday. Witherspoon, the No. 5 overall pick in the draft, has been slowed during training camp by a hamstring injury.

“We got to be smart with it. He’s doing great. We’ll see how he does this week now,” Schneider said.