On Tuesday the Seattle Seahawks announced they released running back Christine Michael. Michael had been enjoying a career resurgence the first few games of the season before the Seahawks’ back started to lose steam, then touches, to C.J. Prosise. With the impending return of Thomas Rawls, the Seahawks did not have room for Michael and cut him rather than keep him loitering on their bench. Michael has shown that he is a hyper-athletic runner, and will have a suitor. Here are the top five destinations for Michael as he makes his way through waivers.
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Indianapolis Colts
The Colts would be the perfect destination for Michael because he is useful in short bursts or a backup role. Frank Gore isn’t going anywhere this season, but C-Mike to the Colts makes perfect sense. This may be Gore’s last run, and the Colts are in a dogfight for the AFC South with nothing of value behind Gore. If Gore went down, they could kiss their playoff hopes goodbye.
Green Bay Packers
The Packers have tried everything at running back since Eddie Lacy went down, including wide receiver Ty Montgomery. While James Starks is back, he is better suited in a pass-catching role. Michael can carry the load for the Pack and will create the perfect one-two punch with Starks.
Minnesota Vikings
The early toast of the league has lost four straight and is on the verge of dropping completely out of relevance. Ever since they lost Adrian Peterson, they have been trying a mishmash of Matt Asiata, Jerick McKinnon, and Ronnie Hillman. The problem? McKinnon and Asiata are leading that backfield at 3.0 yards per carry. They need a somewhat reliable back to try to get back to the grind-and-defense strategy that saw them start out 5-0.
New York Giants
The Giants backfield is a mess, with Rashad Jennings, Paul Perkins and Orleans Darkwa all varying levels of ineffective for the Giants. The moment Michael steps into that running backs meeting, he’s immediately the most physically gifted of the group. The Giants’ aren’t effective running the ball at all with a banged up offensive line, so they may not take the flier.
Philadelphia Eagles
Ryan Mathews is the lead back, again, until he isn’t, again. Ryan Mathews reportedly lost his role due to a toothache-turned-root canal that made it nearly impossible even to wear his helmet without being in agony. That likely put a reminder that Mathews is very fragile in the mind of the Eagles, and would want a true backup instead of gadget back Darren Sproles and less talented youngsters Wendell Smallwood and Kenjon Barner. For a team with playoff aspirations, they need to shore up that backfield, and Michael could do that for them.
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It’s likely that the “C-Woke” we saw earlier this year was a mirage. He had a handful of good games against bad defenses and then reverted to bad C-Mike. Still, he put enough on tape this year that a team will pick him up in short order.