Should Marshawn Lynch Be Worried About His Starting Job?

If you’ve been keeping up with the Seahawks this offseason then you’ve heard all about Christine Michael and how he’s the next breakout star; how his skill-set is similar to that of Adrian Peterson; how he’s already taken Robert Turbin’s job and is gunning for Marshawn Lynch‘s.

It started with Pete Carroll making a very bold claim, when he said: “He’s going to get a ton of work.”

Then John Schneider called Michael (and Percy Harvin), “two of our most explosive players.”

“We are blessed enough to have a young, talented team and we need to be able to plan accordingly to be able to reward those players,” he said, implying that the former Texas A&M standout is showing too many signs of greatness and that it would be preposterous to not give him more playing time.

Then there was the crazy spin move in practice that blew up social media. I went back and tried to find it but it was removed so good luck tracking it down if you haven’t yet seen it.

Then Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell surprised everyone with his comments at the Seahawks Town Hall: “We are going to be running back by committee, we really like what Christine Michael is doing right now…he has breakaway speed and power behind his pads.”

While most people believe Bevell was simply calling out Marshawn Lynch for not attending OTAs (and has since changed his stance on the matter), it’s hard to ignore such bold statements.

Then Michael came in at No. 23 on NFL.com’s “Making the Leap” list, which picks 25 players whom they believe will ‘make the leap’ into the spotlight in the coming season and contribute on a much larger scale than the previous year. While this honor may put a bit of pressure on the shoulders of the 5-foot-10, 221-pound running back from Beaumont, Texas, it also shows just how much potential this young player has put on display, from an extremely limited amount of action.

News later came out that Lynch would most likely be skipping out on mandatory minicamp, which would do two things: First, it would force Lynch to pay the league a fine of $69,455; and second, it would give the Hawks coaching staff even more incentive to give the starting RB position to someone a little more hungry.

Lynch is believed to be holding out due to unhappiness regarding his contract. He is in his third year of a four-year deal in which he is set to make $5 million this year and $5.5 million next year. While most believed number 24 was a lock to start this coming year and had a decent chance to play out his contract, it was a universal belief that he would not come back following his 2015 campaign. So the idea that the team will pay Lynch more money is unreasonable.

While we’ve actually seen very little of Christine Michael, we’ve heard plenty from the coaching staff to expect great things for many years to come. Whether it be this season or the next, whenever Michael does makes his starting debut, the whole league will know it.