KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) -Shaun Alexander says his left foot is just fine. So is his sense of humor.
Alexander held court Wednesday during the Seattle Seahawks’ voluntary minicamp, cracking jokes about all the attention he received last month when he said his left foot, which was broken last season, may still be cracked.
“I didn’t think it was too big until my grandma called. Then I said, ‘I guess I need to tell everybody I am OK,”’ a grinning Alexander said.
He then turned to television cameras and said, “I am good. Grandma, I am good.”
During a May minicamp, Alexander said he may be getting another round of X-rays on his left foot, broken for the final four months of last season, to determine if it is still cracked.
That caused a fervor at Seahawks headquarters, one coach Mike Holmgren tried to put to rest at the end of Seattle’s first minicamp.
“That’s a non-story, honest to goodness. There is nothing wrong with Shaun Alexander,” Holmgren said then.
Alexander said he was surprised that X-rays taken after Seattle’s playoff loss at Chicago in January showed the crack remained. He rushed for 729 yards and five touchdowns in the final seven games of the regular season, then added 177 yards in the playoffs – all with the foot still cracked, according to the 2005 NFL MVP.
Late last season, the coach explained doctors had told him Alexander may always have a crack in his foot, but they had determined the risk of him breaking through the relatively small fissure was remote. So he could play on it.
Alexander has been cleared by team doctors to fully participate in preseason drills, and he has been on the practice field participating in all mandatory workouts.
Alexander didn’t realize the story was big news until he was playing basketball with a youth he mentors and some friends at his home, and saw a flash on the television about his foot.
“They are all looking at me and I am like, ‘If it is on the ticker then it has to be right,’ “ he said. “It is always weird, especially when you have a bunch of friends and everybody is just sitting around hanging out and your name flashes up with something like that.”
Alexander’s jokes continued when he was asked if fantasy football fans were panicking after hearing the foot might still be cracked.
“They were,” he said. “Some people were pulling me over on the side: ‘Should I pick you?’
“I am like, ‘You are in good shape. We are going to be all right.”’
When asked if he was lighter than this time last year, Alexander joked again.
“No, I weigh 225. I was thinking that maybe I was just running so slow last year, I don’t know what it was,” he said. “I thought, ‘Did the foot break make you look that bad?”’
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