Seahawks Three-Headed Monster pt. 2: Thomas Rawls
By Ben Renner
The Seahawks have the potential to field a dynamic running game featuring three players who, if they stay healthy, add a little something different to the mix. What does Thomas Rawls bring to the table?
Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls brings a ferocious, slashing running style that gashes opponents on cut backs. Any defender not caught running the wrong way gets hit with a freight train. Rawls has never been afraid of contact in his two years in the league.
In his rookie season, Rawls gained over 900 yards from scrimmage and scored five total touchdowns while averaging a league-leading 5.6 yards per carry. It was an excellent rookie season for the undrafted free agent out of Central Michigan. The Flint native appeared to be at the start of a promising career in the NFL, and the latest undrafted success story of Pete Carroll’s Seahawks.
2016, however, was another story for Rawls. Rawls started seven games in 2015 and 2016, but he saw action in 13 games his rookie season and appeared in only nine last year. He, like most of the Seahawks running backs last season, dealt with injuries and an underperforming offensive line that capped all Seattle offensive output.
To his credit, by the end of last season, when Rawls was fully recovered from the broken leg he suffered at the conclusion of 2015, he came alive. In the Seahawks two playoff games, Rawls averaged 5.1 yards per carry.
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Entering 2016, Carroll and General Manager John Schneider knew they likely needed several players to fill the void left by Marshawn Lynch. Even after a solid rookie season, they knew that Rawls would need help in the backfield to generate a useful rushing attack. But the additions of rookies Alex Collins and C.J. Prosise didn’t pan out, and Christine stinkin’ Michael led the team in rushing yards despite mostly playing for Green Bay.
Prosise ran into injury issues last season that kept him off the field, otherwise he was effective. With him and Rawls returning healthy this year and teaming with Eddie Lacy, all they need are a few running lanes.
Rawls hasn’t shown he can make it through an entire NFL season getting constantly beat up as a running back. Perhaps his injuries, especially his broken leg in 2015, were bad luck. Perhaps they were the start of a pattern. Running back is one of the more physically brutal positions to play in football, and even the most talented, most physically prepared players have to leave the field.
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For Rawls, year three with the Seahawks will be the most telling of all in determining which kind of running back he will be.