Pete Carroll on Marshawn Lynch's holdout: 'It's a contract for a reason'

RENTON, Wash. – Two or three years down the line, Richard Sherman or Earl Thomas might feel much like Marshawn Lynch does now: underpaid on a contract that once helped set the market with multiple years to go.

Lynch began his holdout Friday in hopes the Seattle Seahawks will upgrade his deal, which has two years and $13 million remaining. But the precedent such an upgrade would set is perhaps the most important reason the Seahawks don't seem interested in appeasing their star running back with more money.

"It's a contract for a reason. We made a decision and it was signed, by us and by them," Carroll told USA TODAY Sports after the Seahawks' first training camp practice. "We expect them to honor their contract just as we will. We're going to honor it and we expect them to do the same. …

"We've had a big plan for a long time working here, and Marshawn is a huge part of that plan, and we made a huge commitment to him a couple years ago. He remains a big part of that plan – if he'll show up. The same thing will carry over to Doug (Baldwin) and Richard and Earl and Kam (Chancellor) and all of the guys that have signed with us."

Carroll said he doesn't have any idea when or if Lynch might show up. He faces a $30,000 fine for each day he misses and partial signing bonus forfeiture if his absence reaches six days.

"He's got his own mind on this," Carroll said. "We've communicated quite a bit, and I know where he is on it and we just have to see what happens."

The four-year, $30 million contract Lynch signed in March 2012 already has paid him $17 million. The $7.5 million average per year remains among the top six for NFL running backs, even after Kansas City's Jamaal Charles got a raise following his own holdout threat with the Chiefs this week.

Lynch's deal has been surpassed on his own team, though. Thomas signed a new five-year, $44.7 million contract in April. The next week, Sherman signed a five-year, $57.4 million deal. Percy Harvin got a six-year, $67 million deal last offseason.

All three contracts rank among the top deals at the players' respective positions for now. But with the salary cap rising in concert with NFL revenue, there figures to come a time those players may not be happy with their cash flow either.

If the reigning Super Bowl champions depart from the plan and redo Lynch's deal now, how can they say no to the next star player who asks?

"Obviously, we want Marshawn here," quarterback Russell Wilson, who's next in line for a lucrative contract extension, told USA TODAY Sports. "He's a great friend of mine. He's a guy who works so hard. It's one of those things where we want him here, for sure.

"But it's also a great opportunity for Robert Turbin, who's an unbelievable running back. He's strong, physical, fast, quick. Christine Michael, too, a young guy. We're excited about seeing those guys step up to the plate and see what they can do."

Turbin took the first rep with the Seahawks' starting offense Friday. Michael mixed in as well. It raised memories of a year ago, when Harvin was a surprise scratch for the first day of training camp last year and ended up undergoing hip surgery that cost him almost the entire season.

"It isn't about one guy. It hasn't been," Carroll said. "We have a lot of really good football players here, and the opportunities for the guys to take advantage of that spot is extraordinary and they're going for it. I think that's a really good illustration of how our language was last year with Percy, our language is now again, because that's what we believe."

The Sept. 4 opener against the Green Bay Packers is still almost six weeks away. And Wilson said he believes Lynch will be there.

"I definitely expect that and hope so," Wilson said. "He's a competitor. He's a guy who wants to play, a guy who loves the game of football, a guy who loves his teammates. We love him to death, too. We pray and hope that he's here, just because he's a great friend and great teammate."

If Lynch is set on returning with a raise, though, he may be waiting for a while.