Pete Carroll gave a radio interview yesterday, and he touched on the health of his top running backs. Seattle drafted DeeJay Dallas in the fourth round, lending to speculation that they might be unsure about where Chris Carson (hip) and Rashaad Penny (knee) are at coming off injuries.
Carson fractured a hip late last season, but Carroll says they expect him to be ready for Week 1. Carroll is traditionally optimistic with players coming off injuries (and everything else), but Carson didn't have surgery, so no reason not to believe he'll be healthy. That's the good news.
Penny, though, is coming off a torn ACL, and Carroll actually described it as "more than just a normal ACL tear," plus it was a December injury -- even a strict ACL tear can take 12 months to return from. Penny is expected to begin the year on the PUP list. His 2020 contributions look limited, if there are any at all.
That being the case, those drafting should take a long look at Dallas as the backup. He has the necessary size (5-10, 217), though perhaps not speed (4.58 at the combine). He was a quarterback in high school and started out college at Miami as a receiver, before switching to running back. He wasn't a big producer in a committee backfield, though he did average a healthy 5.7 and 6.0 yards per carry the last two seasons. Decent chance he's the Carson handcuff.
Carson, if Carroll's optimism is accurate, won't have to worry about former first-round pick Penny taking any carries. It's again fair to wonder why Seattle burned a first-rounder on him at all. Carson flashed some ability at the end of the 2017 season, and over the last two years he's been one of the most productive starters in the league. At least in terms of rushing.
Seattle has used him relatively sparingly as a receiver; he's averaged under 2 catches per game. But as a runner the past two seasons, he's averaged 18 attempts and 82 rushing yards per game. That's top 5 in the league in both categories, up there with Ezekiel Elliott, Nick Chubb and Derrick Henry, among running backs who've started or had a significant workload at least half the time.
| RUNNING BACK RUSHING PER GAME, 2018-2019 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | Att | Run | Rec | Total | TD | FPG |
| Ezekiel Elliott, Dall. | 31 | 19.5 | 90.0 | 31.8 | 121.9 | .74 | 20.9 |
| Nick Chubb, Cle. | 26 | 18.2 | 89.1 | 16.4 | 105.5 | .62 | 16.4 |
| Derrick Henry, Ten. | 31 | 16.7 | 83.8 | 9.8 | 93.7 | .97 | 16.2 |
| Chris Carson, Sea. | 29 | 18.1 | 82.1 | 14.8 | 96.9 | .62 | 15.4 |
| Saquon Barkley, NYG | 29 | 16.5 | 79.7 | 40.0 | 119.6 | .80 | 21.7 |
| Marlon Mack, Ind. | 25 | 17.3 | 78.6 | 7.3 | 85.9 | .76 | 14.4 |
| Christian McCaffrey, Car. | 32 | 15.8 | 77.7 | 58.5 | 136.2 | 1.03 | 26.8 |
| Joe Mixon, Cin. | 30 | 17.2 | 76.8 | 19.4 | 96.3 | .57 | 15.6 |
| Todd Gurley, LAR | 29 | 16.5 | 72.7 | 27.1 | 99.8 | 1.25 | 20.6 |
| Dalvin Cook, Min. | 25 | 15.3 | 70.0 | 33.0 | 103.0 | .68 | 18.1 |
| Leonard Fournette, Jac. | 23 | 17.3 | 69.2 | 30.7 | 99.9 | .39 | 16.6 |
| Phillip Lindsay, Den. | 25 | 14.2 | 68.1 | 13.0 | 81.0 | .60 | 13.9 |
| Aaron Jones, G.B. | 24 | 14.0 | 67.7 | 26.6 | 94.3 | 1.13 | 19.1 |
| Carlos Hyde, Hou. | 23 | 16.1 | 63.7 | 3.3 | 67.0 | .48 | 10.4 |
| Sony Michel, N.E. | 29 | 15.7 | 63.6 | 5.0 | 68.5 | .45 | 10.2 |
| Adrian Peterson, Was. | 31 | 14.9 | 62.6 | 11.3 | 73.9 | .42 | 11.1 |
| James Conner, Pitt. | 23 | 14.4 | 62.5 | 32.5 | 95.0 | .90 | 18.8 |
| Melvin Gordon, LAC | 24 | 14.0 | 62.4 | 32.8 | 95.1 | .99 | 19.3 |
| Mark Ingram, Balt. | 27 | 12.6 | 61.6 | 15.4 | 77.0 | .84 | 14.5 |
| Kerryon Johnson, Det. | 17 | 13.3 | 60.4 | 18.8 | 79.2 | .47 | 13.0 |
| Matt Breida (C), S.F. | 23 | 11.4 | 59.0 | 16.1 | 75.1 | .30 | 11.2 |
| Jordan Howard, Phil. | 25 | 14.8 | 58.4 | 8.6 | 67.0 | .64 | 11.7 |
| Alvin Kamara, N.O. | 29 | 12.6 | 57.9 | 42.8 | 100.8 | .86 | 20.8 |
| Frank Gore, Buff. | 20 | 11.9 | 55.8 | 9.4 | 65.2 | .15 | 8.5 |
| David Montgomery, Chi. | 16 | 15.1 | 55.6 | 11.6 | 67.1 | .44 | 10.9 |
| David Johnson, Ariz. | 24 | 14.2 | 51.8 | 32.0 | 83.8 | .64 | 15.6 |
| Miles Sanders, Phil. | 16 | 11.2 | 51.1 | 31.8 | 82.9 | .40 | 13.8 |
| Tevin Coleman (C), S.F. | 28 | 10.3 | 46.8 | 14.8 | 61.6 | .54 | 11.2 |
| Ronald Jones, T.B. | 16 | 10.8 | 45.3 | 19.3 | 64.6 | .38 | 10.6 |
| Peyton Barber, T.B. | 32 | 12.1 | 41.9 | 6.5 | 48.4 | .42 | 8.5 |
| Royce Freeman (C), Den. | 30 | 8.7 | 33.9 | 10.9 | 44.8 | .30 | 8.2 |
| Kenyan Drake (C), Mia. | 16 | 7.5 | 33.4 | 29.8 | 63.3 | .56 | 13.0 |
| Austin Ekeler (C), LAC | 23 | 6.2 | 33.1 | 45.7 | 78.8 | .52 | 15.1 |
| LeGarrette Blount (C), Det. | 16 | 9.6 | 26.1 | 4.2 | 30.3 | .31 | 5.5 |
| James White (3rd), N.E. | 31 | 5.2 | 22.2 | 45.0 | 67.2 | .59 | 15.4 |
| Dion Lewis (3rd), Ten. | 31 | 6.3 | 21.2 | 17.6 | 38.8 | .10 | 7.1 |
| Tarik Cohen (3rd), Chi. | 32 | 5.1 | 20.5 | 36.9 | 57.4 | .36 | 12.6 |
| Duke Johnson (3rd), Hou. | 32 | 3.8 | 19.1 | 26.2 | 45.3 | .27 | 9.0 |
| Nyheim Hines (3rd), Ind. | 32 | 4.3 | 16.0 | 23.3 | 39.3 | .25 | 8.8 |
| Chris Thompson (3rd), Was. | 20 | 4.0 | 15.8 | 32.3 | 48.1 | .05 | 9.3 |
| Jalen Richard (3rd), Oak. | 32 | 2.9 | 12.6 | 29.1 | 41.7 | .03 | 7.6 |
| Giovani Bernard (3rd), Cin. | 26 | 3.2 | 9.7 | 15.4 | 25.0 | .00 | 4.7 |
| Dare Ogunbowale (3rd), T.B. | 16 | .7 | 1.1 | 17.9 | 18.9 | .13 | 4.8 |
You hope to have more medical info (or see him on a practice field) before selecting Carson early, but if you can protect that pick with Dallas, there's some upside. (Just hope the offensive line overhaul discussed here recently doesn't negatively impact the running game, of course.)
--Andy Richardson