What if the Seahawks had traded Lynch for Forte?

Seahawks would have had a very different back in Forte

What if this trade had gone down, though? What if Lynch got his wish and Matt Forte became the lead back in Seattle? Would the Seahawks have been as successful with such a different style of running back? Lynch was, well, a beast, especially around the goal line. Forte was more of a slasher who evaded tackles. Not that he couldn’t run over people – Forte was actually a bit heavier than Lynch, 221 pounds to 215.

But at 5’11”, Lynch was built more like a wrecking ball, and played like it. He could be effective as a receiver, too. He caught 287 passes in his career, 158 with the Seahawks. Compared to Forte, though, there’s just no comparison as a receiver. Forte had 554 receptions in two fewer years. Lynch averaged 24 catches per season, Forte 55.

I think the Seahawks would certainly have used Forte more in the passing game than they did Lynch. But I don’t see them using Forte as a receiver as much as the Bears did. Compare the Bills usage of Lynch as a receiver to the Hawks. Lynch was targeted 131 times and had 94 receptions in 45 games with Buffalo. That’s an average of 2.9 targets and 21 catches per game. In Seattle, he had 209 targets and those 158 catches in 82 games. That’s a lower average, 2.5 targets and 1.9 receptions. If you’ll notice, the Bills only targeted Lynch once in his final season with them. Toss out that aberration and he averaged 3.2 targets per game.