Pete Carroll wants Lynch back in '15

RENTON, Wash. -- Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll tersely answered a question Friday about the speculation that the team might move on next season without running back Marshawn Lynch.

"If you guys ever would have asked -- which you didn't -- I would have told you we want him around here as long as he can play," Carroll said. "There's never been any hesitation and there's never been another thought about that.

"That came totally from somewhere else. He's under contract next year, and we'll be thrilled to have him playing for us. We'll do everything we can to get that done."

Lynch is in the third year of a four-year deal that pays him a total of $31 million. He held out of training camp this summer for eight days to get more money up front and was given $1.5 million more this season, upping his 2014 salary to $6.5 million, but no new money. He will count for $8 million against Seattle's 2015 salary cap.

On Carroll's weekly radio show Monday on 710 ESPN Seattle, he said "we're working through it" in regard to issues over his relationship with Lynch and Lynch being upset about his contract situation.

On Oct. 27, Carroll was asked about an ESPN report that the Seahawks were tired of his act.

"I have nothing to say about that because there's nothing to that," Carroll said at the time. "I have no idea where that came from. We have nothing to say about that. At this point, I don't think it behooves us to try and respond to all of these kinds of things in the locker room. Our players have told you how they feel, our coaches have told you how we feel about it, and we're in a really good place right now. It's just not worth it, so there's nothing to that at all. I don't know where that came from."

Carroll also was asked that day if he talks to Lynch regularly.

"Whenever I need to,'' he said. "Look, what do you want me to say? Are you asking me about my personal relationship with my players now? We're doing great. Everything is going great. He's doing fine. He works his tail off. Since the day he got back here, he looked terrific."

Lynch has 813 yards rushing this season, including 264 in the past two games. He was fined $100,000 on Wednesday by the NFL for failing to talk to the media after being warned about it numerous times, starting last season.