The Seattle Seahawks began the offseason with a perilous running back situation, following the season-ending injuries suffered by Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise near the end of the 2019 season.
Prosise is gone, along with Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin – who were both signed as emergency depth in December – which leaves Seattle with Carson and Penny as well as second-year back Travis Homer from last year.
Seattle shored up some depth by selecting DeeJay Dallas in the fourth round of the 2020 NFL draft, and they added even more depth by signing Carlos Hyde to a one-year deal worth up to $4 million for 2020.
So – now the Seahawks have five players (Carson, Penny, Hyde, Homer and Dallas) all competing for snaps at tailback, with Nick Bellore still on the roster at fullback and a pair of undrafted free agents, Patrick Carr and Anthony Jones, in the running as well.
The biggest question, which will remain unknown until training camp opens, is the health of Penny. All signs point to Carson, who had surgery on his hip in December, returning to 100 percent health by the time things open back up again.
However, there have been rumblings that Penny, who tore his ACL, will begin training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, and even some concern that could spill into the regular season if he does not get any time during the preseason to get his legs under him.
That would certainly help explain the Hyde signing, as he would be a more than capable No. 2 running back to Carson while Penny is out. How the team will handle the trio when Penny is healthy remains to be seen, and it sure looks like Homer, who filled in admirably late last season, has been relegated to special teams duties once again, this time alongside Dallas, who may have a hard time even staying on the roster once Penny is healthy.
Of course, Seattle saw firsthand what happens when a team doesn’t have enough running back depth, or when they all manage to get hurt at once, so they will do their best to have everyone ready to step up as needed this season – and they’ll almost certainly have Beast Mode on speed dial.
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