Chris Carson 'Ready to Go' for 2020, Unsure of Future with Seahawks
Coming off a cracked hip that ended his season last December and prevented him from playing for the Seahawks in the playoffs, Chris Carson is ready to resume his roll as the team's feature back for the start of the 2020 season.
The fourth-year running back has missed most of Seattle's training camp due to multiple deaths in the family and took two lengthy leaves of absence this month. But as exhibited during an impressive mock game performance on Sunday with Carlos Hyde and Travis Homer held out, the bruising runner hasn't missed a beat and seems poised for another strong campaign.
"Chris has got fresh legs," coach Pete Carroll said of Seattle's star back after he received an extensive workload in Sunday's scrimmage. "He looks great. He hasn't had a snap out here that he didn't look good. So, we don't have any hesitation with Chris at all. He's ready to go."
Carson confirmed as much speaking to reporters on Tuesday, indicating he's "100 percent" recovered and isn't feeling any ill effects from his hip injury.
Once an unheralded seventh-round pick out of Oklahoma State, the 25-year old Carson has emerged as one of the NFL's best backs over the past two seasons, finishing in the top five in rushing yards in 2018 and 2019. Starting 29 games for the Seahawks during that span, he rushed for 2,381 yards and 16 touchdowns while adding 57 receptions for 429 yards and a pair of scores.
Last season, Carson set a new career-high by powering through opponents to a tune of 1,230 rushing yards and scored nine combined touchdowns before suffering his season-ending injury in Week 16 against the Cardinals.
Despite the success, Carson has yet to make a Pro Bowl and remained under the radar nationally compared to other top-tier running backs such as Ezekiel Elliott and Christian McCaffrey. In a poll consisting of 50 NFL executives done by ESPN, he wasn't selected as one of the top 10 backs heading into the 2020 season and former Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew ranked him 15th among NFL backs in his rankings.
Whether it's been his durability issues or ball security woes or lack of receptions out of the backfield - or a blend of all three - Carson has struggled to garner the acclaim he deserves while thriving in Seattle's run-heavy scheme. He has ended two of his three seasons on injured reserve and fumbled 10 times in the past two seasons, so those concerns may be warranted.
Still, as a sign he's finally earning some much-deserved respect, however, Carson was voted by his peers into the NFL's annual Top 100 Players rankings for the first time in July, coming in at No. 96 overall.
From Carson's perspective, while he's pleased to earn such accolades, he feels his ranking was too high for what he's accomplished to this point.
"Personally, that spot's not low enough for me," Carson smiled. "I could be a lot lower on that list."
Entering the final year of his rookie deal, producing another 1,000-plus yard season could set Carson up for a lucrative contract with the Seahawks or another team, especially following news the Bengals paid running back Joe Mixon $48 million on a four-year extension. While he has certainly thought about his football future and has been made aware of other running backs signing big deals, he feels he has nothing left to prove and isn't going to let the situation distract him or influence his performance on the field.
"It is something that's on my mind, but I try not to let it affect me," Carson said, admitting there haven't been any negotiations between the Seahawks and his representatives to this point.
Though Hyde rushed for over 1,000 yards with the Texans last season and rookie DeeJay Dallas has been one of the stars of Seattle's training camp, a healthy Carson will once again resume his roll as the team's bell cow out of the backfield. While other backs will help keep him fresh, he should receive the bulk of the carries as a key cog for the Seahawks balanced offensive attack, and if he stays healthy, he should be in line for a big pay day in the near future.
