Running backs coach: Sherman Smith, Seahawks

Seahawks running backs coach Sherman Smith has done an impressive job at bringing young stars into Seattle's backfield who now must try to be suitable replacements for Marshawn Lynch.

Smith played for the Seahawks from 1976 through ’82, and became the team’s running backs coach in 2010 after a long history as a running backs coach and offensive coordinator. It’s been his job to not only handle Marshawn Lynch’s personality, but to bring along young players in Seattle’s backfield in Lynch’s stead. Perhaps the most impressive example of his grooming of potential stars—who will now try to be suitable replacements for Lynch—came last season, when he took an undrafted kid out of Central Michigan named Thomas Rawls and helped him become the epicenter of Seattle’s offense after Lynch was injured. Smith understands the fundamentals of the game, and can coach backs up in any system.