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Seattle Seahawks: Marshawn Lynch not team’s biggest issue

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The Seattle Seahawks have been to two Super Bowls in a row. Now they face a litany of issues and decisions heading into the 2015 season as they attempt to make it three in a row. The fate of mercurial running back Marshawn Lynch is the most prominent of those concerns, and his return is vital, but that may not be the most crucial issue facing the Seahawks this year. Here’s a look at the rest of the issues Pete Carroll and Seattle must address.

Russell Wilson: He’s an above average quarterback to be sure, but the jury on him in 2014 is that in the Seahawks most crucial moment, they would have been better off putting the ball in Marshawn Lynch’s hands instead of those of their QB. Wilson has shown progress in each of his seasons, but must get better in 2015.

Wide receivers: Do the Seahawks have any? That’s the question the organization is asking itself this offseason. After dumping Percy Harvin for a number of reasons, no real effort was made to replace him midseason, and the team’s offense suffered as a result. Chris Matthews, if his Super Bowl performance wasn’t a fluke, is a good start.

Defense: Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman are two of the best defensive backs in the game. They’re also entering the 2015 season with significant injuries. Does Seattle have the depth at the position to compensate for any missed time?

Darrell Bevell: will there be any lingering resentment on the part of Seattle Seahawks players toward the offensive coordinator who gave the Super Bowl away by not giving the ball the Marshawn Lynchl? If so, Pete Carooll needs to stomp that out now, before the 2015 season gets rolling.

Seattle Seahawks and Marshawn Lynch: the 2015 offense reshuffle

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The Seattle Seahawks will find a way to entice Marshawn Lynch to return in 2015 and play one more season, as he’s been left with as bad of a taste in his mouth by the last second Super Bowl loss as anyone, and will want one more crack at going out on a better note. But with the word “retirement” already being kicked around publicly, the question is now whom Russell Wilson and the gang will get to replace Lynch in 2016 - and that decision will dictate their approach to 2015.

If all else fails, the Seahawks can simply lure Marshawn Lynch back by offering him an outsized one year contract, or the kind of multi year contract that’s meant to be mutually voided after a year for salary cap reasons. That gives Seattle a year to figure out whether their offense is dynamic in its own right, or whether it’s succeeded the past two seasons simply because Lynch is just that special. If it’s the former, then it’ll be time for Russell Wilson to step up and take a bigger role, which means supplying him with higher caliber wide receivers in the 2015 Draft so they can be past their rookie jitters and ready to take the helm by 2016.

But if the answer is that the Seattle Seahawks offense is only special because Marshawn Lynch is special, that means Pete Carroll has to find another uniquely dynamic running back - and that may require taking someone like Melvin Gordon or Todd Gurley in the 2015 Draft, just to make sure Lynch’s replacement is on the roster at whatever time Lynch decides to leave the building.

Seattle Seahawks, Marshawn Lynch 2015: path to win Super Bowl 50

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The Seattle Seahawks will spend 2015 trying to find their way to their third consecutive Super Bowl, and there are three keys to making it happen. The first, and most obvious, is to re-sign Marshawn Lynch. He’s a uniquely valuable running back at a time when most of his counterparts on other NFL teams are mere cogs in the wheel. He’s not retiring, but he must be paid sufficiently that he doesn’t end up playing for another team. But there are two other more subtle factors the Seahawks must address.

Chris Matthews was a nice story in Super Bowl 49 and might have been the MVP if Seattle had won the game. But that masks the fact that the Seahawks wide receiver corps just wasn’t good enough down the stretch. There were plenty of reasons to dump Percy Harvin midseason, but the offense never did recover from the fact that there was no one else on the roster to step up and take his place. Whether it be a first round pick or a prized free agent, the Seahawks need to find themselves a #1 receiver - and this time it can’t be another mercurial roll of the dice like Harvin.

Finally, the Seattle Seahawks need to get their house in order. The departure of the defensive coordinator for a head coaching job should go smoothly, since they promoted from within. But offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is the bigger concern. He made a terrible play call that cost his team a championship, but has otherwise done the job well over the years. Pete Carroll needs to rally his team around the idea that Bevell’s continued tenure with the team shouldn’t be a distraction, so it doesn’t become one as they try to win Super Bowl 50. And that’s particularly true of Marshawn Lynch, the player who should have gotten the ball on that call.