Free agent Isaiah Crowell to Seahawks would just make complete sense
By Lee Vowell
The Seahawks are going to need to find running back depth for 2020. Isaiah Crowell seems like the perfect fit for Seattle in free agency.
When Chris Carson and Rashaad Penny went down and out for the season late in 2019, the Seahawks offense was likely to be limited so much advancing far in the postseason was not reasonable. And in fact, Seattle struggled to run the ball in either of its playoffs games and Russell Wilson could not save the team from losing to the Packers.
Even bringing in Marshawn Lynch to try to resuscitate the suddenly-harmless Seattle running game didn’t help. It was obvious that nearly every time Lynch entered the game he was going to get the ball on running downs. Lynch had little chance to create yards due to defenses focusing on him and, to be fair, the fact that he is no longer his younger and quicker self.
The problem is that with Penny’s injury specifically – a torn ACL – he might not even be ready until well into next season. Carson won’t likely return until training camp. The Seahawks will need a player who can provide quality depth, and possibly step in as a starter, should Penny not be able to return and Carson has ongoing hip issues from his injury.
A good candidate for Seattle to sign in free agency is Isaiah Crowell. Crowell will be entering his sixth season in the NFL in 2020. He hasn’t made a Pro Bowl and probably would never, but he is also a quality back. In two of his last three seasons, on a bad Browns team in 2016 and a not good Jets team in 2018, Crowell averaged 4.8 yards a carry. That is a solid number that Seattle would love from their running backs.
Crowell has also fumbled just 6 times in five seasons, so he doesn’t have issues holding on to the ball. Carson, for instance, fumbled 7 times in 2019 alone.
The problem with Crowell is that he didn’t play in 2019 because he tore his Achilles tendon and missed the season. Crowell did suffer the injury on April 30th of last year, though, so by the time training camp rolls around for Seattle he will have had over a year to rehab the injury. Sure, Achilles are tough to overcome for a running back, but with all the time since, Crowell should be in good shape.
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Crowell also offers the size that Pete Carroll likes in his running backs as he weighs over 200 pounds. And Crowell wouldn’t come in and be expected to start, if all goes well with Carson’s own rehab. If the Seahawks can ink Crowell to a contract of around $2 million or less, I say Seattle should go for it.