Hasselbeck has bruised tendon

SEATTLE – Super Bowl and Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck reportedly was using crutches Thursday on his way into an airline promotional event at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The Seattle Seahawks quarterback said the injury was a minor, bruised foot tendon, according to Don Wilson, a Port of Seattle employee assigned to the event.

Hasselbeck was inside an airport terminal helping promote AirTran Airways’ first day of summer, daily nonstop service between Atlanta and Seattle.

Wilson said Hasselbeck arrived in the airport’s Concourse A using crutches.

He said curious Seahawks fans asked the star quarterback what had happened, and Hasselbeck said he had a bruised tendon in his foot and he was only using the crutches to keep the foot from swelling.

“He only used them to go long distances,” Wilson said. “I’m sure he must have needed them, but he wasn’t limping.”

A spokesman for AirTran Airways, Matt Alverson, left a promotional advisory phone message with The Associated Press before the event.

In it, Alverson said Hasselbeck would be present, and added that the quarterback would be appearing on crutches.

Alverson said that he only saw Hasselbeck during the event itself and did not see him using the crutches. Wilson said an airport employee held the crutches off to the side during the event.

A Seahawks official said the team had no knowledge of Hasselbeck being injured recently. He said the quarterback is not on any in-house injury lists that are updated each week during the off-season.

A representative for David Dunn, Hasselbeck’s agent, said Dunn was not available to comment. Hasselbeck could not be reached for comment.

Hasselbeck participated in each practice of a mandatory, three-day minicamp May 5-7, and then all of a voluntary, four-day passing camp that ended May 11.

He, league MVP Shaun Alexander and other veterans did not participate fully, as the Seahawks focused on developing younger players during the camps.

Hasselbeck then hosted a high school football camp at Qwest Field that began last Saturday. He was not using crutches then.

The Seahawks’ next minicamp begins June 5. Training camp starts in late July.