RENTON, Wash. — The Seattle Seahawks signed veteran cornerback Travis Fisher today, with injured star Marcus Trufant out indefinitely with a sore back.

Fisher said he was home in Tallahassee, Fla., working out for what he thought was an imminent chance in the league after the Detroit Lions released him May 1. The Seahawks called him this weekend. He tried out at team headquarters Sunday morning and was signed in time to practice in the afternoon.

A second-round draft choice by St. Louis in 2002, Fisher played the last two seasons with the Lions. He said he's glad to get back to a "rosy smell" of a winning organization after enduring the NFL's first 0-16 season last year in Detroit. He has started 74 of 86 career games.

He played only a few downs during team scrimmaging on his first day with Seattle.

"This is my first day of camp. I'm a veteran, I know all about what it takes to be ready for the season," he said.

Seattle coach Jim Mora said Friday when camp opened that Trufant was placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list for a minor back injury sustained recently. Josh Wilson, a second-round draft choice in 2007 and normally the nickel back, is currently the first-team cornerback opposite recently acquired veteran Ken Lucas.

The Seahawks know all about managing backs. Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck missed nine games in 2008 with a bulging disk in his lower back, and center Chris Spencer has also had back pain.

"He wasn't going to be able to practice," Mora said of Trufant, a Pro Bowl selection two seasons ago. "We want to be cautious with backs, given our history. ... It doesn't appear to be anything serious, just sore."

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JONES RESTS: Nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones did not practice on Sunday as scheduled because of back spasms. The 35-year-old, who had microfracture surgery on his left knee last winter, fully participated in the first practice of camp on Friday but hasn't since.

Mora said Saturday the plan is for Jones to practice every other day this month.

When asked if it's easier to let Jones miss some practices because he's such an experienced player, Mora said: "Yeah, to a certain extent — although it's a little bit different for Walt this year in that it's a new scheme. He'd been in the same system for so long and he understood it inside and out. Now, when he's having to learn, I think it puts a little bit of extra burden on him mentally. ... But he's certainly a guy that can handle that.

"We have a timetable for him, and I feel confident that by the time we kick it off versus the Rams (in the opener Sept. 13) that he'll be right where he needs to be, both physically and mentally."

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NIGHT MOVES: The Seahawks began practicing in the evening this weekend for the first time in anyone's memory. At least one player, running back Justin Forsett, had never practiced at night while playing at any level until Saturday's two-hour session that ended just before dark at 8:30 p.m.

The team will have two-a-day practices generally every other day for the next few weeks, with the second practice beginning at 6:30 p.m.

"It's a schedule that a lot of teams have gone to through the years. It's what we did in Atlanta, and my dad did it in Indianapolis," said Mora, who coached the Falcons from 2004-06. "Dom Capers started doing it in Carolina a long time ago. Some of the reasons that you do it is that you get two meals in these guys between each practice. You get a meeting with them. So you're able to watch film of a practice before you go out on the field for another practice."

Mora also likes the added time between practices for players to recover and rest. He doesn't have meetings after the night practice, giving players more time to go back to the team hotel to study playbooks before going to bed.

Previous coach Mike Holmgren had the team practicing in the midmorning during camps, then again starting in the mid-afternoon.

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EXTRA POINTS: Monday morning will bring the Seahawks' first training camp practice — outside of public scrimmages — with fans attending since 2006, when the team last trained at Eastern Washington University in Cheney. ... Seahawks punt returners are practicing catching punts with one arm, while holding another ball in the crook of their other arm. Nate Burleson, T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Ben Obomanu were doing it Sunday.