Could this be Marshawn Lynch's final game in Seattle? Seahawks hope not

PHOENIX — Forget a moment about Marshawn Lynch talking or not talking.

What about him walking?

The very real possibility exists that Sunday could be Lynch's final game with the Seattle Seahawks if the team opts not to bring him back.

There are two halves to this equation: One, the Seahawks might be in a financial bind, having handed out several contract extensions this season and still needing to save up for paying Russell Wilson and Byron Maxwell (whom the team has deemed to be a priority in re-signing). Can they also keep Lynch, who is currently set to hit on the salary cap for $7.5 million next season.

The other half is Lynch. Does he want to be back? The way his Seahawks teammates gush about him as a friend and locker-room figure, you'd think the answer would be yes. But there have been reports over the course of the past year that he remains unhappy with his contract situation, even after receiving a $1 million bump following an eight-day holdout in training camp last year. The Seahawks also appear to be in decent shape to replace him with young running backs Robert Turbin and Christine Michael, who come much cheaper.

But can the Seahawks even picture life after Lynch?

"I don't want to imagine it," Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said. "He's a huge part of us. He's our identity. He helps us with creating the identity that we want to put out there.

"To be able to be a run-first team, the physical nature he brings, the extra effort, the clawing and scratching, the running people over, coming out of the back side of it ... that gets you going as an offense and he gives you more confidence."

Head coach Pete Carroll has gone on the record to say that he wants Lynch back in 2015. But what else is he going to say? Lynch, who turns 29 the week before the NFL draft, still appears to have a lot of tread on his tires despite a heavy workload and reaching the dreaded age where most backs tend to tail off — especially those, what few there are, who are as physical as he is.

"Marshawn's a very tenacious runner, and when he gets that ball in his hands you really don't know what he's going to do or how hard he's going to run," Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung said. "You see a guy like that, you want to fight for him every time you get."

How much is there left in Lynch's proverbial tank?

“I don’t know exactly how to answer that," Bevell said. "I know that he’s playing at a very high level right now. The way it looks, he still has a couple more years left in him, but I think that’s all on him. We know how he is and how he can be, so it could be that one day he just says, ‘No, I’m done’.

"But definitely his body is still holding up as well as you could ask.”

The Seahawks reduced Lynch's workload this season — from 301 carries to 280, and from 37 catches to 36 — and yet he actually improved over his 2013 totals this season, with 1,306 yards rushing (up from 1,257) and 367 receiving (up from 313) in 2014.

Lynch has remained strong down the stretch, too, scoring six touchdowns in his past five games (including playoffs) and carrying the Seahawks' offense on his back in the NFC championship victory over the Green Bay Packers (183 yards from scrimmage, and the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter) when all else was failing around him.

"He is just pounding the rock," Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. "I think he wears down his opponents by doing what he does. Sometimes it is early and sometimes it is late. I think last game [against the Packers] was indicative of that. He was pounding the rock and giving everything he has. Suddenly there defense starts to wear down. Those three-yard runs that he had earlier in the game, they start becoming six- to eight- to 15-yard runs. That is just what we do on offense.”

Seahawks GM John Schneider was asked about Lynch's physical style — and the toll it might take on his body, and how that factors into the team's decision this offseason.

"I think that's a great question," he said. "I'm not comfortable answering it. Because his run style is … he just takes great care of himself. Down in San Francisco he works out hard. Every time he goes away and we haven't seen him for a while, he comes back looking quicker than he was before. I have no idea — I think the sky is the limit really."

But Lynch also has had some odd moments this season on the field, including a bizarre scene in the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs where Lynch was receiving treatment on the sideline during halftime while his teammates were in the locker room.

Lynch played in but did not start two games — Week 5 against the Washington Redskins and Week 16 against the Arizona Cardinals. In the first game, Lynch's balky back tightened up, and yet he still finished with 117 yards from scrimmage and a tremendous touchdown receptions. Against the Cardinals, Lynch suffered an upset stomach — though was seen eating his typical pregame Skittles victuals on the sideline — but managed to make the most of his 10 rush attempts: 113 yards and two scores, including his "BeastQuake 2.0" 79-yard touchdown run to shift the division title back in Seattle's favor.

Are the Seahawks — even with the age, the salary and the injury concerns — really ready to cut him in the offseason? Schneider was a bit vague and non-commital on the issue, even while acknowledging Lynch's value to the Seahawks and saying "you would be hard-pressed to find a better running back in the National Football League."

"He's one of the most competitive individuals I've ever been around," Schneider said. "The way we managed [the brief holdout] was we just accept it. You can never get into a person's heart or in their mind, you just have to adjust to what's happening. Whether he was going to show up or not show up we had to be able to move forward. We wanted him to show up.

"Same thing — we hope he's playing next year and he is going to attack it like he always is. His teammates love him. He's a fun jovial guy in the locker room. We want him around."

There's little doubt about that last part.

“He’s a great teammate," safety Kam Chancellor said. "He’s fun, he’s active, and he’s hilarious. He has great advice. If you are in need of advice or are ever going through something, you can go to Marshawn and talk to him. He’ll give it to you straight, clean cut. It’s going to be real and some great advice.”

"Marshawn is an extraordinary character," Carroll said. "He is the most giving, the most loyal, one of the great teammates that you can want on a team because of the way he takes care and looks after people. He’s got a remarkable sense about that. His sense for loyalty runs extraordinarily deep, and his teammates know that.”

And when his teammates need him most on the field, Lynch almost always seems to deliver.

"He's the man," Okung said. "I would say he's what makes us who we are. We know when that ball's in his hand he's not playing [around]. He's going to do what it takes to really get all those yards, and every yard is going to matter."

Even if we have to consider that whatever yards he gains on Sunday could be his last. As strange as that is to think about.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm