Football Gods Blessing.

Seeing the end of the Lynch era has been depressing for me this season. It has become very clear that he is not coming back next season and many of us started to realize how lucky we were to have a generational runner tear it up for the Seahawks every Sunday. I felt like the team was going to lose its edge without Lynch, lose its nasty, its identity and without an heir to him the future of our run game was looking pretty grim. The best most teams can look forward to after losing a special talent is the hope that the next guy can at most be competent and in the beginning of the season our options at replacing Lynch were a 4th year back up (Turbin) and a 3rd year high round pick that had been a disappointment (Michael). Unless John and Pete were planning to pick a guy in next years draft there wasn't much to get excited about. But then when it was all looking dark the gods blessed us.

Thomas Rawls came out of nowhere and has balled out this season. An undrafted free agent that none of us would have expected to be this good has flashed talent that has made the future much much brighter. I think he has star RB potential and although he has yet to prove he can handle the wear and tear of an NFL season before that freak injury I say he was dealing with it just fine. He will never be Lynch but he has his own special skills and if he can live up to the potential he flashed this season he will be a bargain on the level that Wilson was for this team. For a team that has payed all of its great players big money an elite RB on the cheap is like icing on the cake. How lucky are we? I say alot.

"He'll never be Lynch" ?

Why does this sound to my like " he's alright, but he'll never be as good as player X".

DavidCruz24":30o2j9zs said:

How lucky are we? I say alot.

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I get what you're saying, but I wouldn't call having BOTH Lynch and Rawls hurt right now is "lucky."

And not sure luck is the right word, let's give credit to Pete and John yet again for finding diamonds in the rough like Rawls. Yet another undrafted home run, which is like 40% of our team right now. That's not luck, that's being REALLY good at your job.

Yes I agree our current situation at RB is not good but I'm referring to next season. I think if Rawls doesn't emerge we are in a position were we have to consider bringing back Lynch and at this point we feel comfortable with life after Lynch because of Rawls. Your right it's not just luck. Pete and John are amazing. But I would argue that they didn't see Rawls being as good as he is. Considering his high draft slot Pete and John pretty much showed that Michael was the supposed heir to Lynch and that failed. Where someone is drafted is clear indication to chance they have at being a good player. And obviously Rawls was undrafted so that shows you that not even John and Pete expected it.

DavidCruz24":231436ga said:

Seeing the end of the Lynch era has been depressing for me this season. It has become very clear that he is not coming back next season

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Please explain how it has become very clear? Zero people from the organization have made mention of it. He's been injured and away from the team for three weeks, which is not uncommon in the NFL for high level players and their rehab programs. Many of us after last year's Super Bowl expected that to be the end of Lynch's run but then he re-upped for a new contract and came back. Lynch's future may be unclear at worst, but to say that it's clear he's not coming back is just plain false.

DavidCruz24":1w0dypb6 said:

Where someone is drafted is clear indication to chance they have at being a good player. And obviously Rawls was undrafted so that shows you that not even John and Pete expected it.

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The draft is a game of chicken sometimes. Pete even said that they loved Rawls, but that they thought because of his history and the devaluation of the RB in the NFL right now that he might not get drafted.

So it's not so much hey this kid's better than we thought, so we got lucky. It's more of we know this kid's good, but we don't think we have to use a draft pick to get him.

Sgt. Largent":1cg16m7v said:

DavidCruz24":1cg16m7v said:

How lucky are we? I say alot.

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I get what you're saying, but I wouldn't call having BOTH Lynch and Rawls hurt right now is "lucky."

And not sure luck is the right word, let's give credit to Pete and John yet again for finding diamonds in the rough like Rawls. Yet another undrafted home run, which is like 40% of our team right now. That's not luck, that's being REALLY good at your job.

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HEll yes -- Schneider is a HOF GM.

I think at his age and the wear he showed early in the season made it was very unlikely that he would be back. I dont think Pete and John would keep going with a 30 yr old back with constant back problems.

Sgt. Largent":1pjac90t said:

DavidCruz24":1pjac90t said:

Where someone is drafted is clear indication to chance they have at being a good player. And obviously Rawls was undrafted so that shows you that not even John and Pete expected it.

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The draft is a game of chicken sometimes. Pete even said that they loved Rawls, but that they thought because of his history and the devaluation of the RB in the NFL right now that he might not get drafted.

So it's not so much hey this kid's better than we thought, so we got lucky. It's more of we know this kid's good, but we don't think we have to use a draft pick to get him.

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Indeed very often the talent difference between a 5th to 7th round pick and a UDFA is often negligible. Teams will often call prospects that fall into these late rounds with offers "in case" they fall into undrafted status, and many teams would rather get a UDFA than spend a pick especially since there are a lot fewer restrictions on UDFAs than late round draft picks.

I suspect that Rawls was such a case.