Washington designated Thomas (hamstring) for return from injured reserve Wednesday.
Thomas appeared close to rejoining his healthy teammates for practice both of the past two weeks, but he was relegated to working out on a side field after Washington elected to delay opening up his 21-day evaluation window. The Football Team seemingly believes Thomas is now ready to take the next step forward in his recovery from a right hamstring injury, and if he fares well in his return to practice this week, he could be an option to play Monday against the Seahawks. Ricky Seals-Jones (hip) has served as the primary replacement at tight end while Thomas has missed the past six games, but while both were sidelined due to injuries in the Week 11 win over Carolina, rookie John Bates (three catches for 23 yards) played 98 percent of the offensive snaps in his first NFL start.