Christine Michael, the former second-round draft pick who spent last season alternating between possible NFL washout and playoff contributor, has found a fifth home in his four-year NFL career. The talented but inconsistent tailback will join the rushing attack of the Indianapolis Colts, the team announced Thursday.
Christine Michael signs with Colts. Will he stick this time?
Indianapolis is the fifth team Michael has played for, including two stints in Seattle and some time on Washington’s practice squad.
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The Colts have Frank Gore, and Robert Turbin is his backup. Gore is 34, but is coming off of a 1,025-yard season last year. Turbin had 164 yards and seven touchdowns in 15 games with the Colts last season.
Michael showed flashes of potential after being selected as Marshawn Lynch’s heir apparent with the Seahawks in 2013, but failed to develop into a reliable starter in his four years in the league. He earned only 52 carries with Seattle before being traded to the Cowboys for a seventh-round pick at the start of the 2015 season.
His time in Dallas was brief. The Cowboys released him after five ineffective games, replacing him with Turbin, and he wound up on Washington’s practice squad. His stay in the nation’s capital was even shorter, but his release there freed him up to return to the Pacific Northwest to fill in for an injured Lynch.
Lynch’s ensuing retirement would lead him to the Seahawks’ starting role in 2016, though it wouldn’t last. He gained 469 yards — and notched his first 100-yard rushing game — in nine appearances with the club, but still wound up cut when head coach Pete Carroll decided to hand tailback duties over to a returning-from-injury Thomas Rawls and rookie C.J. Prosise.
His third crack at free agency led him to Green Bay, who had struggled to replace Eddie Lacy’s contributions in a 4-6 start to its season. Michael teamed with converted wide receiver Ty Montgomery to give the Packers a useful tailback platoon and even signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with the club in March after his contributions helped the team advance all the way to the NFC Championship. However, his tenure in green and gold wouldn’t last — he was released less than two months later after the Pack added runners Jamaal Williams, Devante Mays, and Aaron Jones in the 2017 NFL draft.
Michael will add experience and power to the Colts’ depth chart, and he has an opportunity to catch on as a third back in Indianapolis. His situation is reminiscent of his stint in Dallas, because he’ll be competing with Turbin once again for playing time. But if Michael can land on the active roster and be productive, perhaps he’ll actually stick with the Colts.
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