The Seahawks added to their running back depth Wednesday, signing Christine Michael, head coach Pete Carroll announced.
Michael, Seattle's second-round pick in 2013, was traded to Dallas before the start of the 2015 season. He appeared in five games with the Cowboys, rushing 15 times for 51 yards, then was waived last month and signed to Washington's practice squad, which he was released from on Tuesday.
"We've always saw him as an explosive player, so we'll see how that works out," Carroll said. "I'll let you know at game-time how the whole running back thing will work out, but we're glad to get him back. With Bryce Brown coming back, too, we had a couple weeks with him as well, so he has some background in what we're doing, so we'll see how that comes together."
Michael appeared in 14 games in two seasons with the Seahawks, rushing 52 times for 254 yards, primarily serving as Seattle's third back behind Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin. Carroll said Michael's familiarity with the offense will help Seattle "move ahead" after the injuries to Marshawn Lynch (abdomen), who's still recovering from surgery, and Thomas Rawls (ankle), who was recently placed on injured reserve.
"He's been with us for a long time, so he does have a lot of background," Carroll said of Michael. "That doesn't mean that he's going to be the featured guy or starter or anything like that, he's coming in here to try to help us out and we'll see how that works out. But it is good to be able to pull somebody in that has that kind of background."
Carroll said Monday that the Seahawks want to keep veteran back Fred Jackson in his current role of playing primarily on third down and in hurry-up situations—Jackson had seven carries following Rawls' injury Sunday while DuJuan Harris, who was waived Tuesday, had 18—so it's likely Michael and Brown, who was re-signed this week, will compete for the first and second-down carries. Carroll also said fullback Derrick Coleman could factor in at running back. Coleman, who played running back at UCLA, gained 19 yards on his only carry at Baltimore.
"I think he's pretty clear on what we're looking for," Carroll added of Michael. "He's going to come out here and compete and see how much he can help us."
[wysifield-embeddedpoll|eid="348971"|type="embeddedpoll"|view_mode="full"]
