Seahawks thin at RB for game vs Steelers

With the release of Bryce Brown, the Seahawks go into Sunday’s game with just two healthy running backs. 

The Seahawks released RB Bryce Brown on Saturday. They did so to make room for CB Jeremy Lane. Lane has been on the PUP list all season, and will make his debut Sunday.

Dropping Brown means that the Seahawks now have only two healthy backs on the roster. That could cause a serious problem if one of of them suffers an injury.

Marshawn Lynch is out for this game, and at least the next three as well. He had sports hernia surgery on Wednesday. Sunday’s game will be the fourth game already this season that Lynch has missed.

Thomas Rawls will start and get most of the touches in the running game in replace of Lynch. Rawls has filled in very well this season when Lynch has had to miss time.

34 year old Fred Jackson will serve as the team’s 3rd down back and play in the two-minute drill. Jackson isn’t someone who can be counted on to be effective grinding out runs between the tackles over and over.

The task of backing up both of those roles now falls on Derrick Coleman. Seattle’s versatile FB played RB in college while at UCLA. Coleman isn’t the dynamic athlete that Rawls is, but he can get the job done in a pinch if disaster strikes.

Although he is also a FB, Will Tukuafu isn’t an option at RB. Tuk is a also defensive end, and he’s built like one. He can run people over as a blocker, but he lacks the speed and quickness to be an effective ball carrier.

The Seahawks are taking a risk going into this game with just two RBs. Hopefully, it’ll be a risk that pays off. They need they extra CB, and hopefully none of their other RBs pick up an injury.