Seahawks re-sign a running back. It’s not Chris Carson; he may be gone. It’s Alex Collins
The Seahawks are welcoming back a running back.
No, not Chris Carson. Not yet.
And increasingly likely, not at all.
Veteran free agent Alex Collins signed back with Seattle Wednesday, according to the NFL’s official transactions.
The team’s fifth-round draft choice in 2016 re-signed with the Seahawks in November. That was after Seattle lost its top three running backs to injury. Carson had a sprained foot. Carlos Hyde also missed a month with a strained hamstring. Travis Homer had a bruised knee.
In early November, rookie DeeJay Dallas was the only healthy running back. That was before the Seahawks hosted and beat the San Francisco 49ers.
Collins scored a touchdown Nov. 15, the second game of his Seattle redux, a loss to the Los Angeles Rams. That was Collins’ first start and his first score since Nov. 18, 2018, his final game with Baltimore before his 2 1/2 seasons out of the league.
Collins finished 2020 with 18 carries for 77 yards and two rushing touchdowns. Once Carson and Hyde returned from their injuries later in November, Collins stayed on the sidelines for all but the meaningless regular-season finale against the 49ers for the NFC West-champion Seahawks.
Carson’s and Hyde’s contracts have expired. Both are about to become free agents.
In late December, the last week of Carson’s rookie contract, coach Pete Carroll indicated his 2,300-yard rusher over 2018 and ‘19 would likely get the chance to shop on the free-agent market for the first time when it opens with the new league year March 17.
“I do know Chris has got to—he’s got to look out for himself. So he’s got see what the situation is,” Carroll said.
“From the business side of it, you know, he’s got a chance to see what’s going on.
“And so hopefully we’ll be able to figure it out and keep him.”
That was definitely less than a pronouncement of “Chris is a Seahawk for life, forget about it.”
Carroll added: “But we would love for him to be with us. He’s been a terrific part of our team, and hopefully we can, you know, we can keep that going.”
Carson, 26, is likely to ask for if not command at least $8 million per year. The nine highest veteran salaries per year in the NFL in 2020 were all worth an average of at least $8 million per year.
Thing is, Seattle is tight against a league salary cap that is dropping from $198.2 million per team in 2020, to perhaps $185 million or $180 million.
Carson has been Seattle’s lead back since the first game of his rookie season as a seventh-round pick out of Oklahoma State in 2017. He rushed for 2,381 yards and 17 touchdowns in the 2018 and ‘19 seasons.
He finished 2020 with 681 yards and five touchdowns. Those were his lowest totals since his rookie year of 2017 ended after four games because of a broken leg.
The 2020 season was like 2017 (four games played, then a broken leg and season-ending surgery, 2018 (missed two games and also played through an injured hip and groin) and last year (which ended in December with a cracked and displaced hip).
In week three of 2020 he sprained his knee. Dallas defensive tackle Trysten Hill did a hated “gator-roll” move on Carson while on the ground at the end of a tackle. He played through the sprained knee the following week at Miami, but left the Seahawks’ win over the Dolphins in the first half to get evaluated for a concussion.
In October Carson sprained his foot during the first half of Seattle’s overtime loss at Arizona. He missed the next four games. The offense became imbalanced far too much to the pass, and Russell Wilson began getting sacked and committing turnovers. The Seahawks went from their first 5-0 start in team history with Carson to losing three of their next four without him.
After the Seahawks’ season ended with a home playoff loss to the Rams last month, Carroll said the emphasis on offense in 2021 will be getting back to more running to set up Wilson’s passes and chances for better pass protection.
Asked if that meant re-signing Carson was thus the team’s top offseason priority, Carroll said tellingly last month: “No, not necessarily.”
Hyde is four years older than Carson. He will come much more cheaply.
Asked last month about Hyde, Carroll said: “I really like Carlos. Carlos and Chris, really they’re the kind of the epitome of hardball running guys. They bring you attitude. They bring you a connection to the physical part of the game the way we’d love it. ...
“Carlos is right in there. He’s one of our guys. We’d love to have him back.”
The Seahawks also have Rashaad Penny returning. He is finally past the reconstructive knee surgery that kept him out from Dec. 2019 until Dec. 2020. Penny is entering what could be the final year of his contract, and it appears time in 2021 to see if he’s indeed worth the first-round pick Seattle spent on him in 2018.
The team must decide by early May whether to give Penny a guaranteed, fifth-year contract option. That move would also guarantee Penny’s salary of $1.95 million for this year.
Penny may be the lead. Hyde may return as a cheaper number two again.
Carson may be richer with some other team by then.
And Collins will be back, to compete with Dallas and Homer for third-string carries in a backfield proven for years to need more than three runners.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 7:42 PM.
