The Raiders haven’t yet hammered out a reworked contract with running back Marshawn Lynch, and he won’t be traded from Seattle to Oakland until a new deal is in place. The draft may present a deadline for a Lynch trade, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, who notes the Raiders’ draft plans could alter their need for Lynch.
Oakland had hoped to have finished negotiations with Lynch (and the Seahawks) before the start of the club’s offseason program on Monday, per Rapoport. That didn’t happen, so the Raiders may be presented with a quandary when the draft begins next Thursday. If a running back the team likes is still on the board at No. 24, Oakland may simply “take the leap,” says Rapoport, and such a decision would likely end the Raiders’ pursuit of Lynch. For what it’s worth, I sent Florida State’s Dalvin Cook to the Raiders in PFR’s 2017 mock draft.
At present, the Raiders have only four backs on their roster: Jalen Richard, DeAndre Washington, Jamize Olawale, and Taiwan Jones, the latter of whom is essentially only a special teams player. Oakland could certainly use another runner on its depth chart after allowing Latavius Murray to walk in free agency, and for a time, Lynch’s arrival looked like a fait accompli.
Lynch has officially begun the process of reinstatement, although he won’t technically need to be reinstated in order to be dealt.