Seattle Seahawks: 15 greatest players in franchise history

Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander played with Seattle from 2000 through 2007

There could be several arguments made for Alexander ranking quite a bit higher on this list. But due to the relative shortness of his production in Seattle mixed with who he had blocking in front of him, I have him lower. There is another running back on this list ranked higher than Alexander simply because the running back to follow had to grind out a lot more of his yards than having the luxury of running behind two future Hall of Famers on the left side of the Seattle offensive line that Alexander had.

But Alexander was still a fantastic player, and he had arguably the greatest single season of any Seattle player in the franchise's history. That season was, of course, 2005, but I will get more into that in just a second. Worth noting is that Alexander wasn't just great for that one season. Before 2005, Alexander had had four straight seasons of at least 1,318 rushing yards. He also had at least 14 rushing touchdowns in those four years.

Oddly, though, Alexander didn't make the Pro Bowl until 2003. It is like it took the NFL a couple of seasons to realize just how good Alexander was. He was second-team All-Pro in 2004 when he ran for 1,696 yards and and led the league with 20 total touchdowns.

But 2005 was unbelievably good. He led the NFL in rushing yards (1,880), total touchdowns (28 - a league record at the time), rushing yards per game (117.5), and Alexander was named the league's MVP. 2005 may have caused Alexander to run out of gas long-term, however, as he only played three more years, two for the Seahawks, and had a combined 1,636 ushing yards.