Seahawks now know Chris Carson is truly done for season

Head coach Pete Carroll said on Friday that Seattle Seahawks running back Chris Carson will have neck surgery and will officially miss the rest of the 2021 season. While this doesn’t come as a total surprise, I think we were all hoping that maybe Carson could return this year.

The question now becomes will Carson ever play again? Seahawks fans have a right to feel that Carson might not. This is Carson’s fifth season and in his rookie season of 2017, he was able to play just four games and then missed four games in 2020 and will have only played four this season.

Carson is still the best back Seattle currently has. Alex Collins has done a decent job of being his backup but no one expected Collins to be Seattle’s main back this year and there was no guarantee before preseason that he would even make the roster. And Rashaad Penny has been a complete bust of a first round pick so there is no reason to expect anything from him ever.

Seahawks are definitely without Chris Carson the rest of the year

So while Seattle might be able to get by with Collins and Travis Homer and DeeJay Dallas the rest of the season, what happens after 2021? Carroll said Carson had the surgery “….so he can play next year.” Ever since there started to be speculation about Carson missing a few games this season, there was also speculation that he might never play again.

12s know how neck injuries can affect players. The Seahawks lost Kam Chancellor and Cliff Avril to neck injuries over the last decade so we still have fresh in our minds that key players can be lost forever by this type of injury. Hopefully, this is not what happens to Carson but I have a feeling it might be.

So do the Seahawks choose a running back early in the 2022 NFL draft? They chose poorly with Penny so maybe they should try to find a replacement for Carson in free agency. Otherwise, Collins might need to be the guy again next year too.