Tyler Lockett having surgery for broken hand. He, Seahawks in race to get back this season

How quickly can Tyler Lockett return from hand surgery?

The Seahawks hope their season has enough meaning by the end of this month to answer that question.

Pete Carroll said Friday Seattle’s captain and top wide receiver is heading out of state to have a specialist perform surgery on his left hand. The coach didn’t rule out Lockett returning to play Jan. 1, when the Seahawks host the New York Jets.

Lockett has a twisted, spiral fracture on the first metacarpal, below his index finger. He got that landing on his hand to break his fall from a hit by San Francisco’s Jimmie Ward, after a pass from Geno Smith went off Lockett’s hands incomplete with 3:47 left in Seattle’s 21-13 loss to the 49ers Thursday night.

“Very optimistic review this morning from the docs that he’s got a chance to get back quickly,” Carroll said. “We’ll see if it can happen. If there’s any way possible, he’ll do it. He’ll figure it out.

“So we’ve had good success with this (surgeon) in the past, and he’s been really an expert at it — so that maybe he can pull off something that surprises us here. So we’ll see.

“And I know that’s what Tyler is wanting to do.”

The assumption — including a report from NFL Network — is Lockett likely will miss two games. The Seahawks (7-7) have three games remaining, beginning Christmas Eve at Kansas City (10-3). That will be only the second game Lockett’s missed due to injury in his eight-year NFL career.

Seattle then hosts the Jets (7-6) New Year’s Day and the Los Angeles Rams (4-9) on Jan. 8.

The Seahawks likely need to win two if not all three games to earn one of the NFC’s seven playoff berths.

Seattle is eighth in the conference. Washington (7-5-1) currently sits as the sixth playoff seed and the New York Giants (7-5-1) the seventh. They play each other Sunday. The Seahawks own a tiebreaker with New York from beating the Giants earlier this season.

“You mentioned two weeks. Who said two weeks?” Carroll said of Metcalf being out.

Veteran Marquise Goodwin and second-year receiver Dee Eskridge, eligible to come off injured reserve next week from his own broken hand, move up Seattle’s passing-target hierarchy for quarterback Geno Smith with Lockett out.

Carroll emphasized the Seahawks aren’t replacing Lockett, who leads the team again this season with eight touchdown catches. Those are the second-most of his career.

“You don’t replace him,” Carroll said. “He’s such an extraordinary player.”

Jordyn Brooks status

The Seahawks were without their defensive signal caller, inside linebacker Jordyn Brooks, for the fourth quarter against San Francisco.

The team’s leading tackler has an unspecified neck injury. An MRI exam after Thursday’s game confirmed no structural injury.

“All the pictures that they took were negative, so that’s a good sign. But he’s got some soreness. So we are going to go through a process and try to alleviate the discomfort.

“But there’s no structural issues right now.”

Carroll said the team is hopeful Brooks can play against the Chiefs Dec. 24.

“I know he’s going to want to do that,” the coach said.

Tanner Muse played the fourth quarter next to Cody Barton at inside linebacker against San Francisco. It was Muse’s first work on defense in a regular-season game in his two seasons with Seattle, as a special-teams player.

“Jordyn, to have him go down, it doesn’t seem something that’s crazy. So we expect him to be back,” Barton said late Thursday night.

Al Woods returning?

The Seahawks are hopeful their three days off Friday through Sunday following the Thursday game will give defensive tackle Al Woods the rest his sore Achilles needs to play at Kansas City.

Woods missed the 49ers game. He got hurt in the first half of Seattle’s home loss to Carolina Dec. 11.

“We won’t know until late in the week and he can bang around on it and see if he can handle it,” Carroll said.

MRI exams confirmed defensive tackle Bryan Mone tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. He is out for the season and will have reconstructive surgery.

Walker OK, Dallas likely out again

Kenneth Walker came out of his 12 carries Thursday OK coming off missing one game with an ankle injury, Carroll said.

“He was a little sore (Friday). But the extra days are going to really help him. This is an issue that he’s dealing with that rest helps,” Carroll said. “So these three days here, a fourth day on Monday, will really give him a chance to bounce back (at Kansas City). So I don’t expect any problems with that.”

Walker gained 47 yards on his 12 rushes against San Francisco, as Seattle again failed to generate consistent yardage in its running game. That’s been an issue for five games now, four of them losses that have turned a 6-3 season into a desperate situation for the postseason.

DeeJay Dallas missed the 49ers game with a sprained ankle. On Friday, Carroll made it sound like the running back will miss the game at Kansas City, too.

“He’s got a legitimate high-ankle sprain,” the coach said of an injury that often causes players to miss three or four weeks, at least.