Marshawn Lynch has hung up his cleats, and those are definitely huge shoes for the Seahawks to fill. He’s going to go down as one of the greats as his position – certainly better than some of the running backs that are already in the Hall of Fame.

If you look at overall production – yards and touchdowns – Lynch is certainly good rather than great, but he came up awfully big in a lot of big games. He went over 100 yards six times in playoff games, including four with over 130 yards. He powered Seattle to a pair of Super Bowl games.

And if you were to grade running backs simply by the 5-10 best runs of their career, Lynch is right up there at the very top. His Beast Quake run is not only a jaw-dropper, but it came in a playoff game. When you measure the greatest of the run and the size of the stage, the only run I can think of that’s in that same class would be Marcus Allen’s long touchdown against Washington in the Super Bowl.

Lynch had another Beast Quake type run, and he also had a pair of great touchdown runs in conference championship games. So purely in terms of great runs, I think he’s up there with all-timers like Earl Campbell, Barry Sanders, O.J. Simpson and Jim Brown.

Time will tell if Lynch has done enough to wind up in Canton. I think he’s definitely better than a couple of backs who’ve made it in recent years – Jerome Bettis and Floyd Little. But there are lots of other great players waiting to get in, and that includes running backs like Terrell Davis and Edgerrin James. Chuck Foreman was a great running back in the ‘70s who helped the Vikings to three Super Bowls; he’s not in.

As for the Seahawks, they should be fine. Thomas Rawls did awfully well filling in for Lynch last year. Only issues are whether he can stay healthy (he’s a smaller guy who takes a lot of punishment) and whether the Seahawks can piece together an adequate offensive line.

But quality, productive running backs are hard to find. And factoring in ages, there are only two that I would for sure select before Rawls in a dynasty draft – LeVeon Bell and Todd Gurley. Devonta Freeman is also in the mix; he’s in a good scheme and is a much better pass catcher.

Shooting from the hip (that is, without putting too much thought into it), my top 50 running backs in a dynasty league right now would look something like this. For guys that I believe will be free agents, I’ve put a black dot in front of their names.

DYNASTY RUNNING BACKS
RkTeamPlayerAge
1.PITLeVeon Bell23
2.STLTodd Gurley21
3.ATLDevonta Freeman23
4.SEAThomas Rawls22
5.SFCarlos Hyde24
6.NOMark Ingram26
7.TB• Doug Martin27
8.ARIDavid Johnson24
9.CHIJeremy Langford24
10.JACT.J. Yeldon22
11.WASMatt Jones22
12.NEDion Lewis25
13.MINAdrian Peterson30
14.DENC.J. Anderson24
15.CINGiovani Bernard24
16.BUFKarlos Williams22
17.MIA• Lamar Miller24
18.CINJeremy Hill23
19.BUFLeSean McCoy27
20.OAKLatavius Murray26
21.CHI• Matt Forte30
22.KCJamaal Charles29
23.CARJonathan Stewart28
24.NYJ• Chris Ivory27
25.SDMelvin Gordon22
26.PHIDeMarco Murray27
27.CLEDuke Johnson22
28.DETAmeer Abdullah22
29.WAS• Alfred Morris27
30.CLEIsaiah Crowell23
31.TBCharles Sims25
32.GBEddie Lacy25
33.ATLTevin Coleman22
34.PHIRyan Mathews28
35.SDDanny Woodhead31
36.MIAJay Ajayi22
37.BALJavorius Allen24
38.NYGShane Vereen26
39.KCCharcandrick West24
40.HOUAlfred Blue24
41.DEN• Ronnie Hillman24
42.MINJerick McKinnon23
43.CARCameron Artis-Payne25
44.NYJBilal Powell27
45.KCSpencer Ware24
46.NE• LeGarrette Blount29
47.GB• James Starks29
48.DETTheo Riddick24
49.ARIAndre Ellington27
50.TENDavid Cobb22

—Ian Allan