This former Seahawks player should be a shoo in for the 2025 Hall of Fame class

The 2024 Pro Football Hall of Fame class has been announced and only a couple of the soon-to-be inductees have small ties to the Seattle Seahawks. Devin Hester and Dwight Freeney both made their bones with other teams but played in a few games for Seattle, too. But the 2025 class could be of great interest to 12s.

There are several players available to join the Hall for the first time next year who made their careers wearing a Seahawks uniform. One is safety Earl Thomas. Thomas was possibly the best safety in the NFL for many years in the early 2010s, but his lasting image in Seattle is him flipping off the sideline after being carted off the field during Week 4 of 2018.

After joining the Baltimore Ravens in 2019, Thomas seemed extremely disliked by his teammates. He then had a few off-the-field domestic violence issues after his career ended. He likely won't (and probably shouldn't) have the votes to get into the Hall of Fame, at least right away.

Former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch is up for Hall voting next year

But one former Seahawks player who should have an excellent chance to get into the Hall the first time he has a chance is running back Marshawn Lynch. Only four running backs not already in the Hall of Fame have a better Hall monitor than Lynch, according to Pro Football Reference. Three of these players have not yet been up to vote for induction. This includes LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson, and Frank Gore. The fourth is Roger Craig who should be in the Hall.

The question about Lynch is whether he had enough peak years to warrant being a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He had six 1,000-yard rushing seasons, but two of those came in his first two years when he was with the Buffalo Bills. Lynch also never led the league in rushing. He did, though, lead the league in rushing touchdowns in both 2013 and 2014.

But why should Lynch be a first-ballot Hall of Famer? Because he was without question one of the best running backs in the NFL between 2011 and 2014 and he was the focus of the offense of a team that went to back-to-back Super Bowls in 2013 and 2014. Plus, had he been given the ball at the end of Super Bowl XLIX, he probably would have scored which would have cemented Seattle's second-straight Super Bowl victory and likely Lynch's place in Canton.

Still, he deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. One cannot compare running back statistics over the decades, but the importance of that back to their team should be obvious. There was no question about Lynch's importance to back-to-back Super Bowl teams.

Read more from 12th Man Rising