Mike Davis stays with Seahawks: finally, one stays home

Running back Mike Davis re-signed with Seattle today. He jumped out of what seemed to be a near endless departure line of Seahawks.

Mike Davis signing with Seattle will not make the same headlines as Le’Veon Bell would. That would be amazing, wonderful, and unbelievable news. The Seahawks aren’t about to pay a running back over $14 million a year for one thing. And that’s one of the reasons signing Mike Davis is such a big deal.

Bear with me, I’ll get back to Mr. Davis promptly. Peter King discusses Bell’s contract situation in Sports Illustrated’s MMQB. He states that no running back is worth that much, and gives some pretty sound reasoning:

"• Employing big-time running backs doesn’t equate to winning Super Bowls. Among the past eight Super Bowl winners, one—Seattle, Super Bowl 48, Marshawn Lynch—has had a first-round, big-star running back on the team. In the past three Super Bowls, the winning team’s primary backs (C.J. Anderson, Dion Lewis/James White, LeGarrette Blount/Jay Ajayi) entered the NFL as, in order, an undrafted free agent, a fifth-round pick, fourth-round pick, undrafted, a fifth-round pick."

Hey Peter, thanks for reminding us we don’t have Marshawn anymore. His main point is inescapable, of course. The NFL hasn’t been a running back league in years. You may not need a franchise quarterback to win the big game, but at the least, you need him to play like one. Nick Foles may not definitely be a franchise player, but he sure played like one when he had to.

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So back to our man Mike Davis. No, he doesn’t have the stats of Bell. He doesn’t have the offensive line that Bell has, either. Calm down, I’m not claiming Davis is as good as Bell. Just putting things in perspective. If he was that good, the Seahawks wouldn’t be able to afford him, now would they?

Football Outsiders ranked the Steelers line as the seventh-best run-blocking unit last year. The Seahawks were ranked 31st. Perhaps that’s why Pete Carroll and John Schneider have been signing players that can run block?

Mike Davis staying home is great news for more than one reason

Not to make this the main reason, but he signed for a bit less than Le’Veon Bell will make. We don’t have the details, but in the neighborhood of $13 million less. Davis signed a one year contract, likely a bit over the veteran minimum, which is $700 for a player with his experience.

Another reason I’m glad Davis signed is that he’s one of the few Seahawks free agents to come back. The departure of Luke Willson is the 47th in the past week. At least that’s how it feels.

If the Seahawks paid Davis $1 million, he’d still be a bargain. We know the stat line for 2017  doesn’t show it, but Davis was about as close to BeastMode as you can get. At least with the line we had in 2017. This run was pretty special.

Mike Davis runs in a style one great sportscaster would call, “with authority!” That is the biggest reason we’re happy to see him return to the field for Seattle.

As we’ve noted elsewhere, Davis likely won’t start, as Chris Carson still appears to the man. Personally, I like the idea of thunder and more thunder in the backfield. If Carson and Davis stay healthy and play the way they did in their limited action last year, the Seahawks running game will indeed be back. And it will be powered by guys drafted seventh and fourth. That’s following the formula, all right.

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What Mike Davis brings to the field with his feet – and especially his heart – is definitely what the Seahawks need. The 12s realize how big this signing is.