SEATTLE -- Before Thursday night's preseason game, Seattle Seahawks tight end Jimmy Graham ran sprints from end zone to end zone at CenturyLink Field.

When players took the field for warmups, Graham joined them in full uniform and participated as if he were going to play in the game.

The team is being cautious with Graham, who is coming off of a ruptured patellar tendon injury, and it's uncertain whether he'll miss games to start the regular season, but this was another positive step in his rehab.

"He looked great in pregame," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "He was flying. He was really fired up. He ran a ton of sprints before that workout, with the throwing and the catching and then took all those plays, and then he took the pregame warmup. He was lit up about it afterward. He really felt good, and that was a big step for him. I'm excited for him."

During the TV broadcast, analyst Brock Huard mentioned that the team has encouraged Graham to play basketball as part of his rehab.

"The idea was to give him a chance to have to make moves that are not controlled," Carroll said. "You have controlled workouts where you have bags and you're changing direction and all those kind of things. I thought if he would just feel that, it would show him that he's ready to go to the next level. We just had some fun doing it."

Graham still has plenty of work to do, but Thursday night was a sign that he has not suffered any setbacks.

We'll see when the Seahawks return to practice Sunday how much Graham is able to do on the field next week.