Bumpus: It’s time for the Seahawks to let RB Chris Carson loose

Chris Carson played his second game back for the Seahawks last Sunday after missing four with a foot sprain, and while he was effective, he still wasn’t a huge part of Seattle’s game plan.

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Carson rushed 13 times for 65 yards, which was his fourth-highest number of carries this season but would have ranked third from last in his 2019 campaign. He still made a big impact on the game, though, catching the 28-yard pass that accounted for the Seahawks’ only touchdown in a 17-12 loss to the Giants.

Now that he has a couple of games under his belt following his return from injury, though, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Michael Bumpus thinks the Seahawks will plan to use Carson more this Sunday against the 0-12 Jets. Bumpus, a former Seahawks wide receiver, also believes the result from the Giants game will factor into that.

“I think they’re gonna let him loose. If they would have won last week’s game, I think they would have kept him on a pitch count,” Bumpus said Wednesday on Danny and Gallant. “… Now sirens are going. There’s a sense of urgency at VMAC (Seahawks headquarters) right now. They have to win this ball game and Chris needs to be a big part of that. He needs to touch the football 20 to 25 times this game. I think that it’s official – they’re gonna let him loose. It’s time to win ball games, there’s gonna be a playoff push.”

Carson averaged 5 yards per carry against New York and ranks 12th in the NFL this season with 4.9 yards per carry, and Bumpus said Seattle needs to start utilizing him more because of that.

“I still think (No. 2 running back) Carlos Hyde gets his touches, but I expect Chris Carson really involved in this game plan (vs. the Jets),” Bumpus said. “If he’s not involved in this game plan and if I don’t see some quick game, then I’m really gonna be concerned, because what are we looking at? What film are we looking at? … We don’t know the game plan but what we do know is that Chris Carson needs to touch the football. He was averaging 5 yards a carry last game and I felt like he didn’t get enough love.”

The 26-year-old Carson is in a contract year, and even though he’s missed four games due to injury, Danny O’Neil thinks his worth to the team has been proven.

“The fact that he’s been banged up stinks for him, (but) there’s probably no player whose value to the Seahawks has been more clearly illustrated than Chris Carson this year,” O’Neil said. “Going into the year I would have said, ‘Man, it’s really important for Chris Carson to stay healthy all year for his contract.’ (Now) I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case. I feel like we’ve seen how important he is to this team and the value that he has to the Seahawks because of how much he’s meant when he’s out there.”

Bumpus agreed.

“He gets the run game going. Even if he doesn’t rush for 125 yards, the threat of Carson back there is huge. He can catch the rock, as well. Typically he has solid hands,” he said. “… Chris Carson does everything well. He’s not great at everything but he does everything well. What he’s great at is breaking tackles and making that first guy miss, and when you don’t have him in there, you don’t have that. You don’t have the pass (protection), you don’t have the guy receiving the ball out of the backfield. He just puts pressure on the defense and that’s what the Seahawks are missing.

“He’s back, let him apply pressure every single down.”

You can hear the full discussion in the final question of the Blue 42 segment of Danny and Gallant at this link or in the player below.

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