Marshawn Lynch Injury: Back Problem Forces Seahawks RB to Miss Game vs. Browns

Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch suffered a back injury during warm-ups for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns and was forced to miss the contest, according to Rotoworld. His absence opened the door for backups Leon Washington and Justin Forsett.

Lynch has been averaging less than 50 yards per game this season, but neither Washington nor Forsett are built to handle a heavy workload, which has made “Beast Mode” the starter by default. The former first-round pick has never been more than an average runner since being drafted by the Buffalo Bills.

His absence meant the Seahawks would be without two key pieces, as starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson also missed the game with a chest injury.

Despite his underwhelming numbers, Lynch was coming off his best game of the season when he ran for 98 yards and a touchdown against the New York Giants before Seattle's bye week. Losing Lynch will only make an already struggling offense more futile.

For fantasy purposes, Lynch was only a borderline flex option heading into Week 7 and the same will be true for whichever running back replaces him, should he miss an extended period of time. There just aren't enough weapons on the Seahawks offense to make any player a hot fantasy commodity.

Fantasy owners would be better off looking to outside options like Montario Hardesty of the Cleveland Browns, Jackie Battle of the Kansas City Chiefs or DeMarco Murray of the Dallas Cowboys to fill any void left by Lynch.

Seattle plays the Cincinnati Bengals next week and Lynch's status for that game will likely remain up in the air until practice starts back up during the week.