It was already known early in the week that the Seahawks would be without starting quarterback Sam Darnold for Sunday's game against the Cardinals due to a quadricep injury suffered in Monday night's game.

There were also several other players whose status were in question either due to injuries sustained in that game or injuries that kept them out of it, but Friday's injury report came with another piece of injury news that was not expected.

Guard Quenton Nelson, who the Seahawks acquired in a trade with the Colts last week, has a knee injury that will require minor surgery, head coach Mike Macdonald announced Friday.

"Quenton is going to be out," Macdonald said. "We're going to do a minor procedure. He's week-to-week at this point, we're not going to put him on IR, so we'll go from there. But there's a timeline right now that warrants not IR, so that's what we're going to do."

Also out for the Seahawks in addition to Nelson and Darnold are left tackle Charles Cross (ankle), defensive tackle Leonard Williams (stinger), outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (ankle), receiver Rashid Shaheed (knee) and nose tackle Brandon Pili (back), while outside linebacker Connor O'Toole is questionable with a foot injury.

With so many key players out, Seattle's depth will be tested this week, and it's a challenge they feel well prepared to face.

"This is a 70-man roster week, this is a strength of the Seahawks, this is why we build the team the way we try to, because we know that inevitably there are going to be opportunities for these guys to play," Macdonald said.

Macdonald said Nelson was dealing with some sort of knee issue when he joined the Seahawks -- he was listed on last week's injury report, though as a full participant -- but he then aggravated the injury, leading to the decision for him to have surgery.

"In short, he had something he was dealing with when he got here, and we re-imaged it and it was aggravated to some degree," Macdonald said. "We've done the due diligence, and everybody agrees it's the best to take care of it now and play the long game. So he'll be week-to-week at this point."

Asked if that meant Nelson arrived in Seattle with an injury, Macdonald responded, "I think two things are true. One, that it was something he was dealing with coming out of whatever game it was before the trade, and I think it's been aggravated since he got here."

Nelson being out this game and possibly longer means that Grey Zabel, who moved to right guard to make room for Nelson to play his usual spot, will go back to left guard, the position he played for his first season and a half in the league. Anthony Bradford, who has been Seattle's starting right guard for most of his four-year career, including all 20 games, last season, will return to the starting lineup.

Asked if there was any thought to leaving Zabel at right guard to allow him to continue developing there for the long term, Macdonald said he's had those conversations.

"You just solve one problem at a time, and we thought that not having specific timetable, and having it be at least this game and X amount of practices, then going into the bye, let's put those guys back where they've banked all of those reps. I think that was the most wise decision," he said.

While an injury to a new trade acquisition is hardly ideal, the Seahawks are in a good spot being able to plug Bradford right back into the lineup. As receiver Cooper Kupp put it last week after the trade for Nelson, "We're going to have the best sixth man coming off the bench. It's a champagne problem."

Bradford, who returned from an injury of his own to start in Seattle's dominant Week 7 win over Kansas City, has handled a difficult couple of weeks well, Macdonald said.

"Anthony, he really deserves a tip of the cap for how he's handled the whole process," Macdonald said. "Very impressive. As difficult as the situation is for him specifically, how he has handled it has been spectacular. And part of the messaging has been, 'Look, at some point -- this isn't like you're not playing football for us anymore, so you've got to keep approaching the process the same way.' This happened earlier than we expected, obviously, but this is the way things go. I'm really confident in his ability to go play great football for us, and I know he's excited for the opportunity."

With Darnold out, Drew Lock will start despite dealing with an elbow injury that had him listed as limited in practice all week. With Lock limited, Jalen Milroe has also been getting extra reps to be ready in case he is needed.

"Drew's going to start, yeah… He's done a great job," Macdonald said. "And Jalen Milroe has done a great job as well. It's been a tag team effort to get ready, and I thought both guys -- I've loved their attitude, the details, all those things, they're in a good spot. But Drew's going to start the game."

On Lock's limited reps, Macdonald said: "We've had to manage it. More precautionary than anything else, without getting into all the specifics, but it's something we've had to manage."