For Seattle Seahawks running back Jazz Chisholm Jersey Thomas Rawls, the spirit has always been willing but the flesh has been weak. Through no fault of his own, his two seasons of work grade out as incompletes. Like the exceptional student who just needs to apply himself more, Rawls has shown flashes of brilliance, but has never been on the field long enough to make the NFL world understand that he could fill Marshawn Lynch's shoes. In 2017, he can finally fit comfortably into the shoes that Lynch left hanging on the electrical wire over a year ago. (The Seahawks are back at training camp! Don't MISS anything as they prepare to try and return to the playoffs -- ) Whether it be the 5.6 yards per carry through 13 games in 2015 or the Seahawks single-game playoff rushing record (161 yards) in 2016, everyone sees what Rawls could be. Instead, luck -- not the Andrew variety, though he might understand Rawls pain -- has held him down. A fractured ankle in 2015 ended his season in November, while a hairline Wei-Yin Chen Jersey fracture to his fibula took away six more games the following year. "He broke his leg; guys fell on it. I don't know that you can avoid that in the sense of being durable," head coach Pete Carroll said in January. "The next injury might have been a product of it but I don't think so. He got crunched again. It wasn't the same injury. He's been pretty steady other than that." For all the lack of concern in Rawls' durability, the team focused its free agent efforts on bringing in a running back, eventually settling on Eddie Lacy but that only makes Rawls' will to be the best stronger. Cameron Maybin Jersey " He's a great benefit to the team," Rawls said during mini-camp. "And I know it's a lot of people in the backfield and it's about competition in that way in a lot of different regards. If there was a depth chart with three selective players, I look at it as Thomas Rawls, Thomas Rawls and Thomas Rawls. "I've always been in competition with myself." And those words are unequivocally true. In 2015, it was he, not Lynch, who was the best running back that season. And although, he never got on track in 2016 save for two games to start December -- Jose Urena Jersey he rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries -- that truth remains self-evident. And he's even a bit more explosive after having an actual offseason devoid of rehab to train. "I do feel lighter and I still feel explosive and powerful," he said. "I feel like I got faster also and I know that's one thing that I worked on. You've got to have that being a good running back in this league, so it's one thing I pride myself on." SportsLine projects Rawls to be more productive with his carries than Lacy, and if he shows that talent early, he could wind up with far more carries than expected: RuAtt RuYd RuAvg RuTD Recpt ReYd ReAvg ReTD FP* Eddie Lacy 181 663 3.7 4 19 164 8.6 1 112 Thomas Rawls 127 518 4.1 5 17 124 7.2 1 99 So while the actual depth chart reads "Thomas Rawls, Eddie Lacy, C.J. Prosise, Alex Collins" and so on, expect Rawls to not only retain his starting job but show the world why the Seahawks didn't sweat Lynch's retirement or comeback. Because they already had the answers to the test JT Riddle Jersey : Rawls, an exceptional student whose body just needs to apply itself more in the luck department.