Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll attempted Friday to douse the firestorm of reports that running back Marshawn Lynch won’t return in 2015, saying the team wants him for “as long as he can play.”

Carroll reiterated his Thursday comments to USA Today that the Seahawks have not said Lynch won’t return for the final year of his contract.

“That came from totally somewhere else,” he said of several reports over the past two months that the team has grown tired of Lynch and will move on from him after this season.

“We want him around here as long as he can play,” Carroll said. “There’s never been any hesitation or thought about that.

“He’s under contract for next year. We’d be thrilled to have him playing for us next year. We’ll do everything we can to get that done.”

That seems to imply that something might prevent Lynch from playing the final year of his contract in Seattle.

Lynch held out for the first week of training camp this year, asking for more money on top of his $5 million salary for 2014. The Seahawks converted $1.5 million in incentives into guaranteed money.

Last week, Carroll addressed his relationship with Lynch, saying, “We’re working through it,” and admitted the contract is still an issue.

“I think (it) still goes back to summertime, talking about the contract and stuff like that,” he said on 710 ESPN. “There was some conversations that not everything always works out exactly the way you want it.

“Years later in the contract, you look at it, well, it’s not quite the same deal. I think we had plenty of conversations about that in the summertime. He made his decisions to stay out and we respected that, too. We had no problem with that.”

Lynch, 28, is due a $2 million roster bonus next offseason and a $5 million salary.

Asked Sunday about his future with the Seahawks, the running back told NFL.com, “Do I think I’ll be gone after this season? I don’t know, man. The Seahawks, their front office gets in the media; they talk a lot. I don’t talk too much. I just play the game. If they have something going on, I don’t know about it.”