QB Lock, back from COVID, will be playing ‘a lot’ on Fri.

RENTON, Washington — Seattle Seahawks quarterback Drew Lock returned to practice on Sunday after his battle with COVID-19 and will play “a lot” Friday in the team’s preseason final against the Dallas Cowboys, coach said. Pete Carroll.

Sunday was the first day Lock was able to return after testing positive on Tuesday, which required five days of isolation in accordance with CDC guidelines for vaccinated individuals. He handled a normal workload while sharing first team reps with Geno Smith.

“He did well today,” said Carroll. “He seemed to bounce back. He’s been on it for six, seven days now, so he’s in good shape as far as he comes back. But you never know until you go out and start running around. He stayed there hard, so it was good.”

Carroll would not reveal who will start in Dallas on Friday, but said Lock must play. Lock, who is competing with Smith to replace Russell Wilson as the Seattle starter, was set to make his first summer start against the Chicago Bears on Thursday until his positive COVID test thwarted that plan.

“This was really frustrating for him,” said Carroll. “Here was his day and he just felt terrible on the practice field. That was his day to start and get to work with all the guys and all that on a regular practice schedule…and he couldn’t do the work after training finish He was just a mess, so it’s a shame.

“So I’ve still got to see him play and see him fit in with our guys and stuff. He’s done really well so far. That opportunity was going to be a big one. Although I knew the preparation for it wasn’t great [due to a short week]. … But we’ll see how he goes this week and we’ll be playing with him a lot this week. He will play a lot.”

Carroll still regarded Smith as the league’s leader, despite the plan to start Lock last week. With Lock offside against Chicago, Smith missed a chance to extend his lead, 10-of-18 for 112 yards on seven scoreless drives in the first half. However, at least three of his omissions were drops.

The Dallas game won’t necessarily be the last part of the evaluation Seattle uses to decide on a starter, Carroll said. With only three preseason games now instead of four, there is an extra week between the Friday finals and the start of the regular season.

“I’m going to take the time it takes to find out and make sure we have all the information we need,” Carroll said. “I’ll have to wait and see what happens in this match. Geno has done a good job. Geno needs a little more help from some guys. Guys need to catch the football a little better for him. But he’s handled it well.” Drew’s had three drives, he’s had two touchdown drives, so he’s put some stuff on the resume, so we’ll see what happens this week.

“And we’ve got really good training weeks ahead of us. This is a great week. Next week is a great week. And the one after is a great one, so we’ll all use that if we need it.”