Pete Carroll says Marshawn Lynch is back with Seahawks, as expected

Marshawn Lynch has returned to the Seahawks, putting him one step closer to returning to their backfield.

Coach Pete Carroll confirmed during his appearance on “Brock and Salk” Monday morning that Lynch is back at the team’s practice facility, as expected, after spending the last three weeks in San Francisco as he continued to rehab from abdominal surgery.

Carroll said Lynch was working out Monday morning. He was asked what the team would need to see from Lynch this week for him to be able to play Sunday in Seattle’s first-round playoff game against Minnesota.

“Just normal football stuff. The week, we’ll go through it and see how he does and see if he’s holding up and all that. We’ll just assess it,” Carroll said. “This is not rocket science. We’re just going to go out there and play some football and see how he’s doing. I know he’s going to be in great shape and all that stuff. He’s worked his butt off to get that done, and couldn’t ask for more in that regard.”

Lynch hasn’t played since Nov. 15, which was 10 days before he had surgery for an issue related to a sports hernia. Carroll was asked if there’s any trepidation in inserting Lynch back into Seattle’s offense considering the roll it has been on in his absence.

“No, not at all,” Carroll said. “No, we still called 37 runs yesterday. He can carry a bunch of those. He’d like to get 25 or 30 or something like that. We’ll see how it goes. We don’t plan to change anything.”

Carroll had no new information on cornerback Jeremy Lane’s oblique injury, which was the only injury of note that Seattle sustained Sunday against Arizona.