The only player to win MVP honors in franchise history and a member of the Seahawks Ring of Honor, Alexander was a dominant force for Mike Holmgren’s offenses in the 2000s.

But it took Alexander a little longer than he would have liked to show what he could do in a Seahawks uniform.  

The 19^th overall pick in the 2000 draft, Alexander found himself behind veteran back Ricky Watters on the depth chart during his rookie season, and finished the year with just 64 carries for 313 yards and two scores. Alexander got his shot the following year, and responded with 1,318 yards and 14 touchdowns, starting a streak of five consecutive seasons with at least 1,100 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns.  

As good as Watters was, Holmgren acknowledged after both his and Alexander’s careers were over that he probably should have turned to the former Alabama star a little sooner.  

"Coming into the Seahawks, he was a great runner, he always did that stuff, but he was not a very good blocker," Holmgren said. "And I was sometimes hard on him about that, so he probably got mad at me a little bit… Then I realized, what am I doing? I should just hand him the ball and get out of the way, because he can really run.”

And run, and run, and run.  

Starting in 2001, his first year as a starter, and ending with his MVP season in 2005, Alexander averaged 1,500.8 rushing yards and 19.6 total touchdowns per season over that five-year span. In 2005, Alexander rushed for 1,880 yards and scored a then-NFL record 28 total touchdowns on his way to league MVP honors while the Seahawks went 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.  

A three-time Pro-Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro, Alexander rewrote the franchise record books during his eight seasons in Seattle, rushing for 9,429 yards while scoring 112 total touchdowns. He also holds the franchise records for rushing yards in a season (1,880), rushing yards game (266) touchdowns in a season (28), touchdowns in a game (5), 100-yard games (37), 1,000-rushing yards seasons (5), career carries (2,176), and single season carries (370).

"Shaun always had that personality where you never really saw him without a smile on his face," said Seahawks Legend and Pro Football Hall of Fame guard Steve Hutchinson. "He was that kind of guy in the locker room who was always upbeat, good spirits, good mood, all that stuff, good teammate that way. And then as a runner, I mean, numbers speak for themselves. I don't know how many backs had the vision Shaun had. Shaun saw the whole field the whole time. So he was always found a way to find daylight, even on the plays where it looked pretty grim from that standpoint."

In addition to the record-setting numbers and the MVP award, Alexander was also a big part of what was, at the time, the most successful stretch in Seahawks history, with those Holmgren-led teams making the playoffs in five straight seasons from 2003-2007, winning four straight NFC West titles and reaching the Super Bowl for the first time in team history.  

"I love the way that we changed the culture," Alexander said. "… We win the four (NFC West titles) in a row, go to the playoffs five years in a row. It created the culture that this is a winning town."