After a week of back-and-forth rumors, the Seattle Seahawks confirmed Sunday afternoon that star running back Marshawn Lynch won’t be able to play in the team’s Monday night home game against the Detroit Lions. With Lynch sidelined, Thomas Rawls and Fred Jackson will serve as the team’s primary ball carriers.
Marshawn Lynch to sit Monday night for Seahawks, fantasy owners
The Seattle star won’t see the field as he deals with a hamstring injury. We break down the fantasy implications.
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Through three games this season (two, plus an abbreviated stint in Week 3), Lynch has 128 yards on 38 carries, good for 3.4 yards a carry, and 61 receiving yards. He has not yet scored a touchdown. With Lynch missing most of Week 3 against the Chicago Bears, Rawls got 16 carries, gaining 104 yards. Jackson added two carries for 13 yards, and two receptions for nine more.
Fantasy impact: The timing of the announcement of Lynch’s absence had to be difficult for some fantasy owners, as it wasn’t confirmed that he’d miss Week 4 until it was too late to add anyone other than players in the Sunday night game or playing Monday. Still, the advice all week was that anyone planning to use Lynch needed a backup plan in place -- Rawls ideally, but perhaps Ameer Abdullah or one of the teams’ pass-catchers as a flex. Anyone caught without a contingency plan in place for Lynch has no one to blame but themselves.
As for Lynch going forward, we’ll see if he can make it back to the field for Seattle’s Week 5 game against Cincinnati. Considering the team wasn’t sure Lynch would miss Week 4 until Sunday, it seems like he’ll be able to play with another week of rest and recuperation, but until that is confirmed, fantasy owners need to keep a backup plan ready to go.
