WASHINGTON — Former Redskins defensive lineman Adam Carriker worries the team may be limiting Alfred Morris’s carries this season as an effort to reduce his free agency value next offseason.

Why does he think this? The same thing happened to him in 2011, he says.

“I have no problem with a platoon of running backs unless you have a guy like Alfred Morris, a guy who gets better as the game goes on, a guy who wears out the defense, and who, frankly, defenders don’t want to tackle after a while,” Carriker told 106.7 The Fan’s Chad Dukes on Thursday. “You get tired of running into the battering ram time after time.”

“I’ll tell you a quick story, and I’ve never actually told this to anyone outside of my wife,” he said. “The year I was going to become a free agent, the coaches — on purpose — never put me on nickel. They didn’t tell me until later on, but I knew it. They never put me on nickel so I wouldn’t get pass-rush attempts.

“And Coach [Jacob] Burney, the d-line coach at the time — and I do love Coach Burney, so this is nothing derogatory towards him — but he literally almost tried to take sacks away from me, and I got pissed at him. And he came back later and was like, ‘You know what, they fixed that and gave you the credited sacks.’ He almost goes, ‘You should have had it but you just kind of stopped.’ And it was my free agent year, and there’s no doubt in my mind it’s the business aspect. Human beings are a part of it, but it’s about business. Plain and simple.”

Morris’s touches have steadily declined since his rookie year when he rushed for a career best 1,613 yards and 13 touchdowns on almost 21 carries per game. That past two seasons, Morris has gotten the ball an average of 17.3 (2013) and 16.6 (2014) times per game. His production has suffered accordingly, with Morris rushing for a career low 1,074 yards last season.

So far through 2015, he’s touched the ball 14.8 time per game, but in two of the Redskins’ five games — against the Giants in week three and last week against the Falcons — Morris was only handed the ball six and eight times, respectively.

Asked to clarify that the Redskins did in fact limit his opportunities to save money on him down the line, Carriker said, “I absolutely believe so.”

“Burney and I kind of had it out,” he said. “We had it out individually, we had it out in the meeting room, and he goes, ‘Well, what motivation do I have to try to keep you from getting sacks?’ And I was so mad, I just stopped talking. I had shut down at that point.

“And Barry Cofield comes up to me later, he goes, ‘Why didn’t you respond?’ I go, ‘I was so mad.’ He goes, ‘That’s ridiculous. He was trying to keep the price down and we all know that.’ So, I mean, it’s just a part of the business. At the time, I was furious. It almost made me not want to come back. But at the end of the day, I did end up coming back, but, you know, it’s just part of the business.”

Asked if he believes that practice is understood throughout the league, Carriker said, “I think it depends on the individual, in all honesty, because it doesn’t happen to everybody. Look at DeMarco Murray. I think they thought they could get away with it with me, because I’m a nice guy. Well, I’m a nice guy until you make me mad, then I’ll punch you in the mouth, literally or figurative, whatever the situation calls for.

“Alfred Morris is a nice guy. I don’t know if they think they can get away with it, I don’t know if they just think Matt Jones is better — I don’t know the case there — but I do know it happens, at times, to certain players in the NFL.”

“I do know that [Morris] hasn’t had the success running this year when he’s had the ball, compared to Matt Jones at times. I do know that,” he continued. “He gets better as the game goes on. He’s one of those guys, it’s almost like he’s got to kind of get lathered up a little bit, and his effect is, after he’s hit the defense a few times, that they kind of wear down. So I don’t know that he’s gotten 20, 30 carries to really get that opportunity to show what he can do when he does it best. A strong part of me has a suspicion that that’s what’s going on with him.”

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