Christine Michael not ready to be written off in Seahawks’ RB battle

RENTON – It shouldn’t be a surprise that Christine Michael looked like Seattle’s best running back over the first two days of training camp.

He has the most experience of the eight running backs on Seattle’s roster. He was also drafted the highest out of that group, a second-round pick in 2013, and with Thomas Rawls still not practicing as he comes back from last year’s ankle injury, the door is wide open.

If you didn’t know anything about Michael’s Seahawks tenure other than what you saw first on Saturday and then on Sunday, you would have assumed that Michael was ready to step into the void left when Marshawn Lynch retired.

Coach Pete Carroll certainly thought so after the first day of training camp.

“He had a great first day,” Carroll said. “He looked fantastic today.”

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was impressed after Sunday’s workout, too.

“He’s kind of the leader in the group now,” Bevell said. “It’s good, and he’s really done a nice job. He’s really prepared himself.”

It’s necessary to pause now, and inject a little bit of context into the conversation. Michael’s talent has never been in question. His combination of size and explosiveness is the reason Seattle drafted him back in 2013 when Lynch was coming off a season in which rushed for a career-best 1,590 yards.

For the next three years, Michael has been more noteworthy for what happened in August (an unfortunate tendency to fumble) and what didn’t happen in the regular season (consistent production).

Coaches used words like maturity and consistency when talking about him, which were cues to the questions and problems coaches had. He celebrated demonstratively. He carried the ball in his right hand even when it should be in his left. There was also the time he lined up in the backfield and clapped his hands together in disappointment after the quarterback audibled out of a run play into a pass. There was also a play in Carolina when a botched snap derailed a flip play, and as Seattle’s linemen tried in vain to recover the ball, Michael waved his hand and stopped toward the sidelines.

All those facts loomed in the background to what happened last season when Rawls beat out Michael for the job as Lynch’s back-up and Seattle then traded Michael to Dallas for a seventh-round pick one week before the regular season started. Then the Cowboys cut Michael. Then Washington released Michael from its practice squad, and when he was re-signed by the Seahawks after Rawls suffered a season-ending ankle injury, it was characterized as a last chance of sorts.

Michael did OK over the final three regular-season games. Actually, he did a little better than that. He rushed 16 times for 84 yards against Cleveland in his return. He ran 17 times for 102 yards in the regular-season finale in Arizona, his first 100-yard game, and gained 70 yards in the playoff game in Minnesota before Lynch returned from his abdominal injury the following week.

But after all that, the Seahawks did not tender him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent. He’s back in Seattle for the league minimum competing for a job on a team that not only will return its leading rusher in Rawls but drafted three running backs.

There’s not going to be room for everybody, and on Saturday and Sunday, Michael made it clear that he shouldn’t be written off just yet.

“He’s come a long way,” Bevell said. “He’s matured in so many ways. We’re excited about what he brings. He has always been really explosive so we’re really excited to have him here.”

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