The Seahawks placed defensive end Cliff Avril on injured reserve Friday, making official a move that head coach Pete Carroll said was coming on Thursday.

Avril, 31, injured his neck in Seattle's Week 4 victory over the Colts, and is still seeking more information on the injury before any more definitive timelines will be known.

Carroll said they don't know yet if Avril could return this year—teams are allowed to bring two players off of IR after eight weeks—but that possibility hasn't been ruled out.

"We'll wait and see," he said. "We've got plenty of time to figure that out."

Currently the biggest concern, Carroll said, is making sure Avril is doing what's best for him and his family.

"I'm a thousand percent in support of whatever we need to do here to help him," Carroll said. "That's why we're taking our time. The IR thing gives him (eight) weeks at least to figure out whatever else we can figure out. But he's not sure what's best for him right now, he's trying to find that out. And we're hopefully giving him a good sense that we're going to support him all the way throughout and figure out what's best.