RENTON — For all the importance placed around finding the right quarterback, the trade that brought Marshawn Lynch to Seattle part way through the 2010 season could be considered the most important transaction coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider made in their makeover of the Seahawks.
Lynch brought more than just skills as a running back. He provided the Seahawks with an attitude that spread through the locker room.
“I kind of love his act,” Schneider said.
All that Lynch has provided the Seahawks makes it seem unfathomable that Sunday’s Super Bowl against New England could be his finale in Seattle.
No more showers of Skittles. No more Beast Mode moments. No more cat-and-mouse games avoiding the media.
Both the Seahawks and Lynch have decisions to make in the offseason.
If Lynch returns under the final year of his current contract, it would cost Seattle $8.5 million against the salary cap — an unusually high number for a running back who will be 29 next season.
The Seahawks could attempt to restructure or extend Lynch’s contract to take less of a hit against the salary cap. Or they could decide it’s time for cheaper options (i.e., backups Robert Turbin and Christine Michael) to get their opportunities as Seattle’s featured running backs.
Or Lynch could follow through on rumors that have followed him for nearly a year and decide to walk away from football.
Only one of those options is particularly pleasing to Seahawks fans, and that’s seeing Lynch continue. They’ve come to revel in the toughness and the refuse-to-be-tackled way Lynch runs. “Beast Mode” is an attitude Seattle never had on the football field prior to Lynch’s arrival.
“He’s a dog. His whole demeanor,” Seattle safety Earl Thomas said. “He’s a man (among) boys out there.”
A case could be made that 2014 was Lynch’s best NFL season, and it started under an umbrella of speculation about his role.
Seattle coaches hinted in the offseason that Turbin and Michael could play more of a role in the offense, and training camp began with Lynch holding out for the first week.
But once Lynch got on the field, his importance became clear. He rushed for more yards two seasons ago, but this season was a display of how Lynch has become more than just a ball carrier.
“It’s been an extraordinary season that he’s put out here because he’s been so consistent for so long and he’s been so physically right for so long,” Carroll said.
Lynch’s 17 touchdowns in the regular season, including four TD catches, are a career high. He caught 37 passes for a career-best 367 yards, becoming a more reliable receiving option out of the backfield. He’s consistently been a capable blocker in pass protection.
“The thing that he brings to our offense is his versatility,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “People underestimate, I think, his ability to catch the football, his ability to block, his ability to run after contact. Just what he does in the backfield, I mean, I don’t think there’s another football player like him in terms of the running back position.”
But that’s only part of Lynch’s story. Where his value is understated, and possibly most appreciated, is the ability to make something out of nothing.
He routinely breaks tackles before he gets to the line of scrimmage, turning what should be a loss into a 3-yard gain. It’s a skill others try to emulate but never truly duplicate.
Of Lynch’s 1,306 yards rushing yards this season, 771 came after first contact according to STATS. That was the second-highest total in the league. Lynch averaged 2.8 yards after contact per attempt — the best in the league for any running back.
In each of his four full seasons with Seattle, he’s gained more than 600 yards after getting hit. And 2014 was his highest total.
In the NFC title game, Lynch’s 157 yards rushing became a footnote to all the other craziness that occurred in Seattle’s miraculous comeback. How good was Lynch’s performance against the Packers? He was one of five running backs in the past five seasons to rush for more than 150 yards in a playoff game.
If Lynch is back in 2015, he’ll be facing the march of time that often catches up with running backs as they inch closer to age 30. Just 18 running backs in NFL history have rushed for more than 1,300 yards in a season after turning 29.
But Lynch seems to be a different type of runner.
“He’s hands down the best back in the game,” New England defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said, “because he can hurt you any time he has the ball in his hands.”
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