Ex-Seahawk Shaun Alexander to Marshawn Lynch: Don't change your style

His own physical running style saw a stunning NFL career end suddenly after only nine NFL seasons. But former Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander doesn't have any regrets about how he played the game. And he doesn't want to see current Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch change his own bruising style.

Lynch, the man known as "Beast Mode," has a physical approach to the game that routinely flattens would-be tacklers, leaving in his wake crumpled bodies and jarred helmets. But Alexander, who very much ran himself into the ground with his lowered shoulder and tough-sledding style, knows the temptation of trying to change a running style to prolong a career.

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And he doesn't want that from Lynch.

“He's 28 [years old] so we have to [understand the] reality that running backs really don't last much past their 30s. My last year was 31, so I think it's the same thing," Alexander the Shutdown Corner. "He's 28 right now, and I think changing his style from how he played in college or here in Seattle, you might get a different guy.

"I think you try to go with the girl you got. Be the best you can be and when it's time to get done playing, you ride into the sunset being who you and be proud of that."

The former Seahawk and Pro Football Hall of Fame hopeful spoke to SDC as part of a promotion involving Delta Airlines flying two Seahawks fans to every road game this year as the look to defend their Super Bowl title.

“Football is not one [profession] that you plan on doing for years. The average [career] is what, two-and-a-half years? The best thing a coach can do is when a guy isn't doing what he can do: You put guys around him to maximize him.”

There's talk that if Lynch, now in his eighth year in the league, wants to play a couple more seasons he might have to change that running style. As the primary running back in Seattle, he has the majority of the carries for the Seahawks and has 234 yards of their 269 rushing yards gained by the team's running backs this season.

And his physicality is just so unique and special that it clearly takes a toll on his body. That can wear on you, Alexander cautions — especially now in a generation of running backs where rotation of the backfield has become key.

“I think that the running back now, that guy — the workhorse — is running out of our league," Alexander said. "Adrian Peterson or [LeSean] McCoy with the Eagles or Marshawn, it is pretty special to see one of the last of the one-back guys in the league.

"It's special to see him in Seattle.”

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Kristian R. Dyer writes for Metro New York and is a contributor to Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KristianRDyer