Chris Carson gets good news. Yet questions remain with Marshawn Lynch, Seahawks backs
Chris Carson wore a red hoodie, a colorful, zig-zaggy backpack.
And a smile.
Even though crutches were propped against the side of his locker to assist him with his cracked hip on his exit from the Seahawks’ locker room and season, Seattle’s lead running back shared news that may prove big for him and his team’s 2020 season.
“I’m thankful that I didn’t have to get surgery. That’s the biggest thing for me, mentally,” Carson said on locker clean-out day last week following Seattle’s loss at Green Bay in the NFC divisional playoffs.
“I’m feeling 100 percent, as far as I can be, you know what I mean? But I’m good. I’m fine.”
Seattle’s 1,230-yard rusher in 2019 was fifth among all NFL running backs despite again not completing an entire season. He will be meeting again soon with his doctors. They will examine the fracture in his hip he got Dec. 22 during the Seahawks’ damaging home loss to Arizona.
Coach Pete Carroll had been saying Carson’s injury was similar to what ended safety Lano Hill’s 2018 season. But Hill’s required surgery.
Carson thinks he’ll be running again during the upcoming offseason.
“I’ve got to meet with the docs and all that,” he said, “but it should be soon.”
Carson, who’s rushed for 2,381 yards with 18 total touchdowns the last two seasons, has his sights on being ready for the start of Seahawks training camp in July.
“I mean, you never know,” Carson said. “But that’s the goal.”
His return is the biggest of multiple questions among Seahawks running backs. Any questions at that position is a bigger deal for Seattle, which is so reliant and committed to running the ball in this NFL era of pass, pass, pass.
Rashaad Penny, the offense’s number-two back, has a far longer and more complicated path back from his season-ending knee injury. Seattle’s first-round draft choice in 2018 tore multiple ligaments and needed reconstructive knee surgery. That often takes 9-12 months of recovery time On the optimistic end that would put Penny back full go in September, the month the 2020 regular season begins.
The Seahawks are hoping Penny may be able to get back on the field in some fashion by August.
“We’re optimistic, more so about Chris because Chris doesn’t have to do any rehab right now,” Carroll said. “He’s not having surgery and all that. He’s just got to get through it and stay off it for a while. He’s a fantastic workout warrior. He’ll come roaring back.
“I think Rashaad is challenged more because he’s got the full rehab that he’s got to go through.”
Penny tore his knee ligaments on a non-contact injury running after catching a pass from Russell Wilson Dec. 8 in Seattle’s loss at the Los Angeles Rams.
“He’s doing great. He’s ahead of schedule already. They’re really excited about the progress that he’s making.” Carroll said of Penny and his reconstructed knee.
“That’s a much longer prognosis there. He’s got six or seven months ahead of him that are going to be really challenging. We’ll have to wait and see.
“He’s really determined, his attitude is great about it. He’s planning on making it back and getting ready to play. So, we’ll see how that goes.
“We’ll be on the mend. But it’s still a pretty good position right now for us.”
Sort of.
Travis Homer impressed Carroll and Seahawks coaches and teammates with how decisively he ran as Carson’s replacement in the lead-rushing role in the regular-season finale against San Francisco and the wild-card playoff game at Philadelphia. Those were the first starts in the sixth-round draft choice’s career.
“Homer really helped us out with the playing time he got,” Carroll said: “A classic example: What does a guy have to do when he doesn’t play? Homer did. He showed us what he could do.”
We are 700 words into assessing Seattle’s running backs for 2020. And these are the first ones about Marshawn Lynch.
That’s indicative that his next game with the Seahawks may be further on the horizon that either Carson’s or Penny’s.
Lynch returned from 14 months out of football to sign back with the Seahawks Dec. 23, the day after Carson joined Penny as out for the season. He played about 30 percent of the snaps in his first two games, then became the lead back over Homer in the final game at the Packers. Lynch played 58 percent of the snaps at Green Bay. He scored two touchdowns. He scored four times in three games in his Seattle redux, all in goal-line situations.
“We were all very fortunate to have a chance to see Marshawn come back and play again,” Carroll said. “To score four touchdowns in the last three weeks it was pretty cool. Just being Marshawn down inside the 5-yard line, he was nails.”
But Lynch turns 34 in April. It’s hard to see him wanting to come back for a full deal with the Seahawks in 2020. That is, offseason workouts, minicamps, training camp, exhibition games he never played in when he was first with the team from 2010-15— then the grind of a 16-game regular season.
Don’t rule out a special, part-time contract for Lynch at the end of 2020, something like he signed to come back last month.
Carroll did not rule that out last week. Asked if Lynch was the one guy in the universe the Seahawks would give such a special arrangement, Carroll chuckled and nodded.
“I think that’s a good way to phrase that,” the coach said. “That’s awesome.
“He’s going to go home and think about it. ...I don’t know, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I don’t think he knows yet. ...
“We’re open to whatever. We’ll look at everything. I can’t tell you right now.”
With all the uncertainty as the position group upon which Carroll’s entire offensive philosophy and system are based, it’s likely the team drafts another running back. Or signs one with some of the ample space it has under the 2020 salary cap.
The Seahawks have more financial flexibility than in recent offseasons. They have $59.8 million in space under 2020 cap. That’s assuming the cap rises to $200M. The salary cap could be above $201 million. It will be set in March when the new league year begins.
Seattle has the league’s eighth-most cap space, per overthecap.com. SEA has 48 players under contract for 2020. Only the Packers (43) currently have fewer.
Carson has extra motivation to return ready for the start of next season. It is the final one of his rookie contract. He is scheduled to earn $735,000 in 2020, the Seahawks’ steal for the seventh-round pick and what he’s produced under his rookie deal.
Carroll and general manager John Schneider may have been thinking of rewarding Carson with a huge, multiyear extension before next season. But his injury—and the fact Carson has yet to complete a full season injury free since junior college—likely put a pause to that idea.
Yes, there is a lot riding on Carson coming back to his bruising 1,200-yard form, for him and the Seahawks.
Avoiding hip surgery is a big step toward that happening.
“I think it should be a strong group,” Carroll said of his running backs for 2020.
“We are really counting on Chris to come roaring back.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 7:20 AM.
