The Seattle Seahawks are going to partake in an interesting experiment this season: they’re going to play without ANY wide receivers at all. Unfortunately for those fans in the Pacific Northwest, this new experiment isn’t by design. After already losing a quartet of receivers to a variety of ailments, the team lost another two today.

The tough day started when Seneca Wallace limped off the field during warm-ups after straining his calf muscle. Things only got worse after the Seahawks first offensive play against the 49ers, when Logan Payne made a 14-yard catch and had to be helped off the field after a nasty hit on his knee.

ROTOWORLD has some more details:

Unreal. Seneca Wallace, who was expected to start opposite Payne at wide receiver after a rash of injuries to Seattle’s receiver corps, was already unavailable in the game after limping off the field with a calf injury during warm-ups. Payne, who was hit hard in the side of the knee after making a nice catch on a slant route, was helped off the field and doesn’t seem likely to return. The Seahawks continued to throw often on their first drive, but Julius Jones figures to get a bunch of carries in this game with the team running out of capable pass-catchers.

Let’s take a look at how we got to this point:

January 12th - Deion Branch leaves playoff loss to Packers with a knee injury, out until about Week 5 this year.
August 11th - Bobby Engram breaks shoulder bone in preseason opener, out 6-8 weeks.
August 29th - Ben Obomanu breaks his clavicle during the last preseason game, out for year.
September 7th - Nate Burleson hurts his knee in the opener, out for year.

And then today’s debacle. At this rate, Matt Hasselbeck is going to be forced to throw to Eddie Vedder by the end of the year. If you’re in the Seattle area, you better start getting back in shape and practicing some routes. The team’s going to have to start holding open tryouts in no time.