The Seahawks removed Marshawn Lynch from their 90-man roster three weeks ago when they placed the running back on the reserve/retired list, but the 30-year-old still hasn’t officially walked away from football. Now, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (video link), some close to Lynch have conflicting beliefs as to whether he actually is planning to retire.
Lynch told a pair of ex-teammates that he intends to play this year, per Cole, which comes on the heels of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman‘s recent reluctance to put the rusher’s NFL tenure in the rear-view mirror.
On the notion of Lynch returning in 2016, Sherman said, “I don’t put anything past him. He’s about as predictable as a pair of dice. So I don’t try to call his plays.”
Meanwhile, Doug Hendrickson – Lynch’s agent – doesn’t expect his client to take the field this season, but Cole reports “there’s a 
guessing game going on” and adds that the four-time Pro Bowler is far from a sure bet to remain a Seahawk if he elects against retirement. The Seahawks may be ready to move on from Lynch because of his 2016 cap charge and the injury issues he dealt with last season, relays Cole.
Seattle would rack up significant savings if it were to move on from a non-retired Lynch this summer, recouping $9MM in breathing room, and the club’s ground game was elite even without him last season.
While Lynch battled hamstring and abdominal injuries that limited him to seven games and career worsts in rushing attempts (111), yards (417) and touchdowns (three), Thomas Rawls burst on the scene as an undrafted rookie and averaged 5.6 yards per carry on 147 tries. Rawls also wasn’t the picture of health last year, however, as he suffered a season-ending ankle injury in December that required surgery. The 22-year-old should be good to go for the upcoming season, though, and the Seahawks invested heavily behind him when they selected fellow backs C.J. Prosise (third round), Alex Collins (fifth round) and Zac Brooks (seventh round) in the draft. The club also has veteran Christine Michael on its depth chart, so even if Lynch does go back on his initial instinct to retire, it does appear that his days in a Seahawks uniform are over.
Originally acquired from Buffalo in 2010 for pennies on the dollar (two late-round draft picks), Lynch was the driving force behind Seattle’s offense for most of his five-plus-year career there. In each of his four 16-game seasons as a Seahawk, Lynch finished with at least 280 carries, 1,200 yards and 11 rushing touchdowns. He also made a pair of Super Bowl trips, one of which ended in victory.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
My understanding if he comes back, it could be the Raiders….. We we’ll see… That will be a trade or draft pick……
Did you not see the picture of him hanging up his cleats, this is the most overblown story of the off season
He’ll be back. He just wants more money and another team. He’ll wait till camp when the Seahawks have no cap left to announce.
Just because he hung up his Seahawk cleats, doesn’t mean he hung ’em all up
The silly Jets have been a mess for years….. They can’t seem to get that chemistry …… It’s always someone or something ….. Rex was a trip…..
Are we supposed to take bleacher report seriously now? I read an article about the Mariners on there that was full of errors. I commented and corrected some of what was said, the writer commented on my remarks and come to find out he was a 13 year old kid who wrote about WWE and occasionally about baseball. I read some of their stuff for awhile and had to laugh . They bad mouthed the Hawks at every turn come to find out they are based in San Francisco.
I am not sure what Lynch will do I have thought he was trying to get to Oakland for the last year or so of his career. If so Seattle should trade him for a mid to late round pick and let him finish his career there. We will be fine at RB, not that we won’t miss him, but it would be the classy thing to do is let him finish his career at home.
Regardless of his final intent, the Seahawks were able to get him put on the retired list so Lynch has to affirmatively file the paperwork to “un-retire.” He likely won’t do that without having his agent see if he could get a trade done, if he comes back. If just cut, he would be on waivers and certainly picked up by Cleveland or another team, well before Oakland. If he really doesn’t want to play for the Seahawks but no trade could be worked out, he will have to decide if he files the paperwork and take a chance on the waiver wire or a trade by them to another team.
My guess is that if he comes back, it will end up being with the Seahawks and they would take him, keep Rawls and Prosise and waive Michaels and Zac Brooks. Brooks will likely make it to the practice squad. Michaels, will likely get a chance to work out for another team or two.
I believe raiders have one more veteran contact @ about 5 n half million…now if he decides to play for Seattle he will for over 9 million I believe…best case raiders scenario he will call the owners bluff and play this year which they decide to waive his contract and take 4 million discount to run behind the best offensive line literally….big possibility that he and murray can run us to the super bowl this year
Lynch made those comments BEFORE he hung up his cleats during the Super Bowl. Nothing to see here.
Michael not sure what you are saying I did not think they had cap space issues, they could get around it by signing him to a multi year deal with a signing bonus spread out over a couple years then if he only plays one year take the hit next year. Like I said if that is his desire I hope the Hawks work a deal for him to do it. It would be fun to have that old rivalry start up again, but none of us Hawk fans would remember that rivalry because we have only been fans since 2012. We wouldn’t remember the noise rule the league put in place because the kingdome was so loud. We also would not remember the brawls our teams had when two of the hardest hitting DB’s played in the league at the same time that would be Lott and Easley who if he played on a better team and his career was not cut short with kidney problems from all the ibuprphen he took would be I the Hall of Fame. Again I wouldn’t know any of that because I know nothing before 2012. I love when some people on these boards show their ignorance and they seem to mostly be from a team close to yours Michael.