Although the 2019 NFL season came to a disappointing end for the Seattle Seahawks, there was still plenty for them to hang their hat on heading into the offseason. Among the notable bright spots this year was running back Chris Carson solidifying his status as a bonafide workhorse back.
Carson had enjoyed quite the breakout year in 2018 when he emerged as the primary option out of the backfield in Seattle by rushing for over 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns.
There was plenty of speculation regarding whether or not he would be locked in a timeshare with running back Rashaad Penny coming into the 2019 campaign, however, that was hardly the case as he notched career-highs in carries (279) and rushing yards (1,230) while also taking on an increased role in the parring game with 37 receptions for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
Unfortunately, Carson's career year was cut short by a season-ending hip injury in Week 16 and he was subsequently unavailable for the team's playoff run.
Meanwhile, Penny had already been sidelined with a torn ACL and the Seahawks were forced to bring back a familiar face in Marshawn Lynch to help fill the void in the backfield for the postseason.
One of the few knocks on Carson's game was his struggles with holding onto the ball after fumbling the ball a whopping seven times and losing four of them. Even though this could be somewhat attributed to his heavy usage, he will need to find a way to improve his ball security this offseason.
Regardless, Carson's efforts still helped Seattle finish with the fourth-best rushing attack in the league. He was also recently granted a silver lining recently after revealing that he will not need surgery to repair his fractured hip, meaning he should be good to go once training camp rolls around for the 2020 NFL season.
The Seahawks caught plenty of flak for investing a first-round pick in Penny when they already had a player of Carson's caliber in the mix. Fortunately, the 25-year-old has managed to provide them with plenty of bang for their buck as a former seventh-round pick coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing campaigns.
Carson's prowess as a runner in between the tackles along with his improvement as a receiver out of the backfield are enough to earn him a B+ grade for this season.
The Seahawks can take solace in the fact that they managed to come up with quite the steal in the 2017 NFL Draft.
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