Did the Seahawks err in giving Marshawn Lynch an extension?

You know what they say about hindsight. But knowing what you know now about surprise rookie sensation Thomas Rawls and Marshawn Lynch’s injury-filled season, should the Seahawks have given Lynch a contract extension over the offseason?

Lynch held out for a week during training camp before last season, asking for a pay raise. Seattle eventually made some adjustments to his contract, and, after another stellar season in 2014, gave the 29-year-old running back a two-year, $24 million extension that makes him one of the NFL’s highest-paid players at that position. Lynch has responded with seven mediocre games, hobbling his way to only one 100-plus yard performance. An abdominal injury has left the rest of his season in jeopardy, while Rawls has thrived as a replacement starter.

Pete Carroll told “Brock and Salk” that Lynch’s impact has been “obvious,” as his tough, brawling mentality has carried over to the rest of the team.

But Brock Huard, who believes it’s “very possible” that Lynch has played his final down for the Seahawks and feels that Rawls has shown he has the same ceiling as the nine-year veteran, thinks Seattle could have taken a page out of the Patriots’ personnel playbook.

“Other than Tom Brady and a couple guys on that staff … they largely say, ‘If you get fat and sassy and happy when you get paid here, no, I want to turn [the roster] over,'” Huard told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “They wouldn’t have paid Marshawn this year.”

Had the Seahawks saved their money and experimented with a younger running back, they could potentially have invested more in their offensive line or other areas that have been deficient thus far in 2015.

“(Patriots head coach) Bill Belichick would not have signed Marshawn back to a deal and given him $12 million this offseason … but the Seahawks did it, and they rewarded him and obviously thought that he’d be much more productive than he’s been this season,” Huard said. “And this has been a waste.”

Huard said it’s even more frustrating because Lynch has talked throughout his career about needing to get paid more, and that the fans always feel the players are the ones who are wronged by the teams and “the big, bad NFL.”

“Well, what happens when Marshawn has been basically a non-contributor this season because of calf and hamstring and abdominal and all this stuff?” Huard asked. “You know what he still collected? Twelve-million bucks. Just fine; just rewarded very, very handsomely.”