Carroll doesn't expect major roster changes this offseason

[travisduncan]

ICON SMI

Roster turnover was the name of the game for the Seahawks last offseason, but that won't be the norm according to Carroll.

"These guys aren't coming back thinking they'll be a lot of changes," he said Friday. "They're coming back here to play on this team and be together. We don't see wholesale changes."

Carroll was inveitiably asked this week about the future of Tarvaris Jackson this week leading up to the Seahawks final game of the 2011 regular season.

And the coach, known to accentuate the positive, inevitably answered that Jackson is the team's starting quarterback for the future.

The question posed to Carroll: "In terms of you quarterback situation, has T-Jack done enough for you to feel comfortable going in to 2012 with him as your starter?"

Carroll responded, "Yeah that's where we are, we know where we are with that. "

"That doesn't mean we're not going to look at the draft really hard and all the opportunities. We'll always do that all all positions. But T-Jack, understanding what this season has been like for him is important. I don't think you can look at anyone thing other than the fact that he was damaged for about six weeks there and was damaged and kept fight and battling back. "

Carroll plans to structure the offseason program around Jackson as the starter.

"We put together an offseason and a nice camp again, familiarity with the guys and everything about the system, with the commitment to the running game, we know he can function with the football team and he can make us move and do a nice job for us."

The connection between Jackson's status and the contract situation of Marshawn Lynch is pretty simple: You don't need a quarterback to throw for 400 yards if you have Lynch, who is a free-agent, running the ball.

Based on Carroll's comments, T-Jax will be the guy in 2012 and Marshawn Lynch will get a big contract.