Turbin says he’s ready to compete for starting role if Lynch isn’t back
Mar 5, 2015, 8:57 AM | Updated: 9:09 am
Robert Turbin has had limited opportunities while backing up Marshawn Lynch the past three seasons. (AP)
(AP)
There’s no guarantee with Marshawn Lynch, whose future with the Seahawks is up in the air as the running back considers whether or not to accept Seattle’s contract offer.
The same is true in a slightly different sense for his backup, Robert Turbin, who knows that being next up on the depth chart doesn’t necessarily mean that he – or third-stringer Christian Michael, for that matter – will be handed the starting job if Lynch isn’t back.
Listen: Seahawks’ Robert Turbin on “The Barbershop”
“We definitely feel confident that we can handle the reins if Marshawn was to walk away,” Turbin told 710 ESPN Seattle’s “The Barbershop” on Monday. “Now, just because we feel like that doesn’t mean that that situation should be given to us – absolutely not. Our motto on the team is about competing. … We’d be ready for that. Somebody else could come in and feel like they could get it done, too.”
Seattle has options if Lynch isn’t back next season. There’s a free-agent market that – as it looks now – will include big names like DeMarco Murray, Frank Gore and Ryan Mathews, to name a few. This year’s draft is considered particularly deep with running backs as well, including one in Georgia’s Todd Gurley who has drawn comparisons to Lynch.
And then there’s Turbin, who has bided his time behind Lynch since being chosen in the fourth round in 2012. He’s carved out a role as Seattle’s running back in 2-minute situations, and it was in that capacity that he had a 19-yard gain to help set up a touchdown at the end of the first half in the Super Bowl. He’s carried 231 times for 928 yards and a 4-yard average in his three seasons in Seattle, numbers that aren’t overwhelming by any stretch. Then again, there aren’t that many opportunities to be had while backing up one of the league’s most complete and durable running backs.
Turbin was asked if fans have seen the extent of what he’s capable of.
“I don’t think so. I would say no,” he said. “But again, I have to go out and I have to show that. I have to show that. That goes for everybody in the backfield who’s going to be competing to show what they can bring to the table. I feel like I can bring a lot to the table, but there’s only one way to find out.”
