Thomas Rawls is probably getting benched because he can’t protect Russell Wilson

Many fans have wondered this season what exactly Seattle Seahawks running back Thomas Rawls did to get into the dog house so far that the team would bury him on the depth chart. When digging into the details, the answer seems simple: his pass protection is not great.

In Week 1, Rawls was inactive with an ankle injury, and in Week 2 he was splitting snaps with Chris Carson until this play happened. On that play, Rawls appears to give a half-hearted attempt to block San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead, and the play ends with Armstead sacking Russell Wilson. As is seen by the game clock in the video, that play took place with just under 9 minutes left in the third quarter, and…