4 eye-popping statistics about Seahawks RB Chris Carson

Seahawks RB Chris Carson is entering a contract year. There couldn’t be a better time to review some of Carson’s most impressive stats thus far in his career.

The Seahawks struck gold when they selected the Oklahoma State alumni Chris Carson in the 7th round of the 2017 NFL draft. Many thought he would be a backup or practice squad player when he was selected. Boy, oh boy were we wrong. It took him 2 pre-season games to show just how talented he is.

He quickly established his dominance as the lead back. This is despite the fact that Seattle had just paid Eddie Lacy handsomely to fill that role. Unfortunately, for both Carson and the team, he sustained a significant injury that cost him the majority of the season.

Fast forward to today and Carson is on the final year of his rookie deal. He will be joining what appears to be a star-studded running back class in the 2021 free agency. This gives Seattle a real chance to bring Carson back on the low, if he remains a low key star, as he has been thus far.

Here are a handful of other running backs slated to hit the market next year:

Player:                             Current Team:    Age When Hitting FA:

Chris Carson                       Seahawks                   26

Dalvin Cook                        Vikings                         26

Alvin Kamara                      Saints                          26

Aaron Jones                       Packers                        26

Kareem Hunt                     Browns                        26

Derrick Henry                    Titans                           27

Derrick Henry                    Titans                           27

Kenyan Drake                    Cardinals                     27

Despite  Carson’s injury history and off and on fumbling issues, it is quite clear he is the real deal. Over the next 4 slides, I will show you some eye-popping stats that outline just how incredible he has been over the last couple of seasons.

If you want to read about the pros and cons of extending Chris Carson, as well as what a potential contract could look like, CLICK HERE.

Seahawks running back Chris Carson is a tough man to bring down. In fact, he led the NFL in broken tackles in both 2018 and 2019.

During the pre-draft process, many questioned Carson’s speed. Between that and his durability concerns, he fell in the draft to the 7th round of the NFL draft. If there was one thing that was never questioned in the pre-draft process, it was his toughness.

Over the last two years, Chris Carson has led the NFL in broken tackles. Between the two seasons, he amassed 125 total broken tackles. The closest player would be Derrick Henry coming in at 116 broken tackles.

When thinking of the number of broken tackles Chris Carson has amassed, it’s important to keep in mind that quality is very important as well. What I mean is if a player rushes a million times a game, he is bound to have at least a few broken tackles. Whereas quality indicates how often the broken tackles occur.

To put this thought into use, Chris Carson actually led the NFL in the percentage of attempted tackles he broke. This came out to about 1 out of every 4, or 24.1% of attempted tackles he broke free from.

To put into context, here are some players he led in this category in 2019:

Player                             Rushing Attempts        Games Played            Broken Tackles

Chris Carson                              278                                  15                                    67

Derrick Henry                            303                                  15                                    65

Ezekiel Elliot                              301                                  16                                    44

Christian McCaffrey                287                                   16                                    43

Nick Chubb                                298                                   16                                    64

The biggest take away from this chart would be that he had the most broken tackles, despite having the least amount of rushing attempts in this group. He doesn’t simply offer quantity, but he offers high value in terms of quality as well.

Seahawks running back Chris Carson can chug out some major yardage. Over the last two seasons, he had the 5th most rushing yards in the NFL.

Carson is really undervalued in a lot of circles. This even holds true inside of the Seahawks fan community. A big part of the reason would be due to his injury history and fumbling spells. However, if there is one thing that is certain. When he is on the field, he gives it his all.

Carson had a total of 2,381 rushing yards between the 2018 and 2019 seasons. This figure is good for 5th in the NFL. This puts him ahead of players like Saquon Barkley (2310), Alvin Kamara (1,680), and Dalvin Cook (1,750).

Here are the top 5 2018-2019 RB’s in terms of total rushing yards:

Player                          Attempts       Yards        Draft Position*

Ezekiel Elliot                    605            2791               R1-P4

Derrick Henry                  518            2599               R2-P45

Nick Chubb                       490            2490               R2-P35

Christian McCaffrey       506            2485               R1-P8

Chris Carson                     525           2381                R7-P249

*R is the round of the draft, whereas P is the pick. R1-P4 indicates round 1, pick 4.

You will notice one thing right off the bat. Chris Carson is the only player in the top 5 for total rushing yards drafted outside of the first two rounds. Carson has vastly outplayed his expectation. Everything he has achieved, he has earned with blood, sweat and tears. This is especially true when you think of how macabre some of his injuries have been.

Comings back from injuries is grueling. I can attest to this, as I was always labeled as injury-prone growing up. Yet, somehow in Carson’s case, he keeps coming back bigger, better and stronger after each injury. This takes a true alpha and someone with an incredible amount on internal drive to achieve this.

Carson is not someone you want to count out, despite the odds. If you need yardage, and you need it by the bundles. Chris Carson is your man.

Seahawks running back Chris Carson is a beacon of consistency for the team. When you think of a bell-cow back, Carson should immediately come to mind.

When you think of a bell-cow back you think of two things. First, he has to be able to perform under pressure as ‘the guy.’ Second, he needs to be able to shoulder a massive workload. One key metric that is used to determine if a running back is a bell-cow, is how many games they have surpassing 100+ yards rushing.

For Seahawks running back Chris Carson, this number would be 12, since 2017.

Player                   Games w/ 100+ yards     Rushing Attempts

Ezekiel Elliot                       19                                     847

Chris Carson                       12                                     574

Todd Gurley                        12                                     758

Saquon Barkley                 11                                     693

Nick Chubb                         11                                     490

Derrick Henry                    10                                     694

Mark Ingram                      10                                     570

Christian McCaffrey         10                                     623

It takes Chris Carson on average 47 rushing attempts to reach 100 yards using the above numbers (574 yards / 12 games). This would put Carson third on the list in average attempts, behind only Chubb at 44.4 and Elliot at 44.6. The next closest would be Ingram at 57 rushing attempts. Talk about efficiency and effectiveness.

Chris Carson has played behind some of the worst offensive lines in the NFL during his 3 years with Seattle. To put it into contrast Dallas had been a consistent top 5 team in terms of offensive line production. Cleveland has hovered around the 10-15 range. This would give both Elliot and Chubb a significant advantage over Carson in this regard. Talk about doing more, with less.

Seahawks running back Chris Carson thrives under pressure. When you need a first down, he is the guy you want in the backfield.

For a player to be considered elite. They need to be able to perform in clutch moments. This includes anything from an end of the game pivotal score, to simply getting the first down and extending a drive. Chris Carson does this and does it well.

Chris Carson had the 2nd most runs in 2019 that went for a first down. This would equal out to just over 26% of his runs result in a first down. His 74 total first downs trailed only Ezekiel Elliot (surprise) at 78.

Carson was able to do this in part because of opportunity. I mean, he is on a run-first team coached by Pete Carroll. However, he is also one of the best rushers after contact in the NFL.

Carson had the 3rd most yards after contact last season at 907. Meaning, he bulldozed his way through man after man, to make sure he reached that landmark. Carson had the second-highest average gain on runs after contact at 3.3 yards behind only Nick Chubb who had an average of 3.5 yards.

When you combine all the factors from these slides, you realize the Seahawks have a player who is not only good but should be considered elite when healthy. Between his consistency with yards after contact, broken tackles, ability to take over games and capacity to thrive under extreme pressure. Chris Carson should be considered an elite running back in the NFL.

Chris Carson is a perfect running back for the Seahawks system. However, there are still areas of concern. If you want to read about the pros and cons of extending Chris Carson, as well as what a potential contract could look like, CLICK HERE.