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There are only two weeks left into the 2020 NFL regular season, and while it’s not 100% certain that the NFC West Division title will be decided this weekend when the Los Angeles Rams arrive at Lumen Field, what is certain is that there are important question marks. to the running back for the Seattle Seahawks to tackle during the offseason.
The biggest question that needs to be answered is what will be done with Chris Carson. Carson has been the undisputed starter at the post for the past three seasons, but with his rookie contract expiring, his price could rise significantly. His production was fantastic, and the Hawks’ return on that seventh-round pick was well worth it. Specifically, since entering the league in 2017, Carson has been in the top ten for rushing yards, despite a 2017 campaign that lasted just four games due to injury and despite a 2020 season that saw him to gain just 568 yards due to the combination of injury and movement Let Russ Cook.
That said, it’s no secret that the running back market has been cool the past few seasons, and it’s possible Carson won’t find the kind of free agency market he’s hoping for. Even though Carson is unable to secure a monster contract like Ezekiel Elliott, Christian McCaffrey or Derrick Henry over the past few seasons, he’s still likely to sign for more than many fans would rather pay a running back. That said, while the Seahawks are unlikely to break the bank to retain Carson, don’t be surprised if they borrow a move from the Arizona Cardinals’ offseason playbook.
Specifically, while the bidding for a franchise running back is again likely to be in the order of $ 10 million ($ 10.278 million for 2020 by OverTheCap.com), the call Transition offers for the position are expected to be in a similar range to what it was this season. , $ 8.483 million. That’s exactly what the Cardinals did with Kenyan Drake last offseason, and allowed Drake to explore free agency while giving Arizona the right to match any contract offer to Drake.
There is no doubt that many fans will likely be upset at the idea of giving a one-year, fully guaranteed $ 8.483 million contract to a running back who missed 19 games due to injury during of his four years in the NFL, but it’s not too far off. outside of what you’d expect from running backs Seahawks fans were spoiled by the durability Marshawn Lynch demonstrated during the prime of his career, and the 45 regular games Carson played in the three recent seasons when he hit free agency are actually just above expectations for the job.
The running back is a brutal position, and in the NFL, a Week 1 starter in the position should be available for an average of 13.3 games over the year, or somewhere around 53 or 54 games over the course of the year. for a period of four years. Contract. For Carson, aside from the catastrophic injury he suffered in Week 4 of the 2017 season, he is likely to hit free agency after appearing in 14, 15 and 12 games in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively. It’s not the invincibility that some fans would love to see, but the reality is, it fits the expectations for the NFL job today. In fact, the 42 games Carson has started since his Seattle draft are the eighth most thrown games by an NFL backer during that time, and that includes the 2017 season where he missed three-quarters of the season. year due to a torn ligament. and a broken leg suffered against the Indianapolis Colts in week four.
So while many Seahawks fans may not like the idea of allocating somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 8.483 million on a running back, Seattle’s choice to use the transition tender on Carson would have additional benefits. The biggest advantage for the Hawks would be that they would retain a right of first refusal on anything Carson receives from another team, while still giving them the ability to negotiate a longer contract from a starting point that is not as high as if they had used the franchise tag. For Carson, the transition label is said to be more than double what he has earned in terms of salary throughout his career – just under $ 3.8 million.
This amount is obviously much lower than the amounts of mega contracts for which running backs like Alvin Kamara, CMC, Elliott, David Johnson and others have signed. However, relying on the transition label, it seems possible, if not likely, that Carson and the team could come to an agreement on a multi-year contract that would not be as much money as the mega contracts mentioned, but who would be much more than Carson. has done so far. It’s hard to speculate on what exactly the structure of such a contract would look like for Carson until the details of the 2021 salary cap are known, or at least clearer than they currently are. However, based on how much Pete Carroll and John Schneider seem to love Carson, it’s not hard to imagine that he could be with the Seahawks for several years to come, and the Transition Beacon is one tool the team could use to help with retention of its services in the future.
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