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Seattle Seahawks will stay atop NFC with Marshawn Lynch

By Dan Salem

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The Seattle Seahawks will stay atop the NFC with Marshawn Lynch. But do they actually need him, or will the team dominate as is? Dan Salem and Todd Salem debate in today’s NFL TD Sports Debate. Two brothers from New York yell, scream and debate the NFL and sports.

DAN:

The Seattle Seahawks had arguably the best defense in the NFL last season. They nearly won a second straight Lombardi trophy as easily the top team in the NFC. Can Pete Carroll and the Seahawks front office keep this team together?

There’s been a lot of talk about Marshawn Lynch and whether Seattle should extend his contract, or whether Lynch should even return to the rainy city after his final season (2015 is the last year of a four year deal). If I’m Lynch then the Seahawks give me the BEST chance to win another Super Bowl. If I’m Seattle then Lynch gives me the BEST chance to maintain a dominating run game on offense, which opens up the deep ball by association. Russell Wilson excels at throwing the deep ball. FYI.

What am I missing here? Are there bigger holes on the Seahawks’ defense that need filling, or players that should be re-signed ahead of Marshawn? Yes, their offense could use a spark at wide receiver. But no, that was never the offensive focus for either of the last two Super Bowl seasons. Yes, Lynch will demand ‘big’ money. But he’s at the end of his career, would love to go out on top (all players would), and has finally found his place in a successful offense. Why wouldn’t he take slightly less to stay on the best team in the NFC?

Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Seattle has a number of free agents, but no single name jumps out as make-or-break towards success in 2015 (Seahawks’ 2015 Free Agents via Spotrac.com). This Lynch deal gets done quickly, right? And the Seahawks are in line to repeat as NFC champions, right? I’m not blind, but this feels too easy.

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TODD:

You ask a lot of questions here, some of which you answered yourself. (Poor debate etiquette!) The number one factor though in determining Marshawn Lynch’s future was ignored. There is some tangible level of disconnect between how he sees his own value and how the team sees his value.

For starters, running backs in general are worth less in today’s NFL. Look who the Patriots just won the Super Bowl with as their running back rotation. The top backs in last year’s draft, Carlos Hyde and Bishop Sankey, were hardly game-changers as rookies while forgotten and unwanted players were head and shoulders above them.

Filling the position does not cost high dollars anymore, which is why Lynch’s $8.5 million cap hit comes into play.

Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Although there are no Pro Bowlers on Seattle’s list of pending free agents, there are a number of useful and effective players whose absence, if not retained, will negatively affect the team; players such as O’Brien Schofield and Jermaine Kearse, among others.

Thus, it is a balancing act with dollars and cents, with the additional minor detail of the fact that these are human beings. By all accounts, teammates love Lynch. It is impossible to know whether his departure would bring down the offense by more than just the removal of his production.

Without knowing any insider details as far as egos and chemistry are concerned, logistically, I think the Seahawks are better off moving on from Lynch. He will cost too much at an easily replaceable position for a team with too many other guys that need paychecks. Don’t forget the real problem pending FA for Seattle in 2016; he of the sub-million-dollar contract, Russell Wilson.

It will take more than one offseason to properly plan around a single player seeing a possible 20-times increase in pay on a 53-man roster.

Next: Chris Johnson: 5 teams that must sign him

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