Lynch is irreplaceable to Seahawks, and that could be a problem

“Beware the irreplaceable employee.”

Someone that I used to work for said those words to me many years ago and it’s no less true today than it was then. If you’re trying to run a business – any business – and you have an employee that you cannot function properly without, your business is at risk.

It’s not that tough to see the ways in which this truth in the business world is playing out with the Seahawks. They have drafted for depth at all positions. They have instilled the “Always Compete” mantra as their modus operandi. They are unafraid of promoting youth and inexperience.

With all that said, the Seahawks have an irreplaceable employee in Marshawn Lynch.

Watching him go off for 140 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries against the Giants made plain his singular ability to make Seattle’s offense go. Russell Wilson is a unique talent and Doug Baldwin is nothing but fun to watch on the field, but none of the offense works the way that it needs to without Lynch. I started the year preaching the virtue of the Seahawks running from the running back position and getting everyone on the depth chart involved, but now it’s November and there’s no choice but to admit that Lynch alone needs to be on the field for the Seahawks to have any sort of postseason run.

The upside to the fact that the Seahawks so clearly need Marshawn Lynch is that they actually have Marshawn Lynch. Despite a preseason holdout and rumblings of a disconnect between Lynch and management, he is on the roster and delivering every Sunday the way he always has. Whatever may be made of his approach to the game or his mercurial personality, Lynch is still a singular talent and is giving everything that you could ask for on the field.

The downside is that no one else on the team has stepped up and marginalized his contributions with their own, and there’s now room for serious doubts about what the Seahawks’ offense might look like in 2015 if – as has been so often rumored – Lynch is released. The Seahawks have brought in Robert Turbin, Spencer Ware, Derrick Coleman and Christine Michael among others to increase production from the backfield but have yet to find much more than a host of backups and a fullback. For Seattle’s running attack to work, this offense will need more from whomever is carrying the ball than that. While there’s still time for another back to step up into a bigger role, it’s fair to question why that hasn’t happened yet.

There is also the issue of Lynch’s age and mileage to consider. The dropoff for running backs after age 28 tends to be stark and Lynch is headed for his fourth straight season north of 285 carries. Sooner or later it catches up to every player in the league and the Seahawks need to know what the post-Beastmode reality looks like. But that will have to wait.

Add to all of this the fact that Lynch is so openly adored and respected by his teammates and the Seahawks have themselves an irreplaceable employee who – at the very least – holds a huge portion of the team’s postseason aspirations in his hands.

As always, thanks for reading and feel free to join the conversation any time on Twitter @TheMichaelGrey.