Seattle Seahawks: 15 best running backs in franchise history

Number 3: You can’t talk Seahawks running backs without going Beastmode

I have to tell you, 12s, it wasn’t easy to list this man as the third-best Seahawks back of all time. Many will argue only one man was better, and you could make an argument he was the best. Second, maybe, but there was clearly one even greater.

Still, Marshawn Lynch was a unique talent and remains a unique man. He may still have the biggest fanbase among the 12s even though it’s been seven years since he was a major factor for the Hawks. He played with reckless abandon and conducted his press conferences unlike any other star before or since. I can guarantee you this: He isn’t here just so he won’t get fined.

If Lynch hadn’t spent his first three years with the Bills – and the first four games of his fourth – he’d probably be more than 2,000 yards past Chris Warren in second place for yardage. As it is, his career total of 6,381 yards is fourth on Seattle’s all-time list. His 58 touchdowns are second all-time; he did all that in just 83 games. Lynch was a phenomenal talent – a bulldozer that came factory-equipped with rocket boosters.

How many times did Lynch obliterate his opponents, only to dive backward into the end zone? I know it wasn’t on all 58 of his rushing touchdowns, but it sure feels like it. And can we be real here for a moment, 12s? Lynch joined the Hawks for week five of the 2010 season. His blend of speed and power made him an immediate favorite of the 12s, and the coaching staff.

Despite finishing just 7-9, the Seahawks still won the division. They met the 11-5 Saints in the opening game of the playoffs, and – well, you all know what happened. If there are somehow five or six of you who don’t, the Beast Quake set off alarms not only on seismographs but throughout the NFL. Marshawn Lynch was for real, and so were the Seahawks.