Report: Some Seahawks Think Marshawn Lynch Is Faking Retirement to Skip the Busy Off-Season Schedule
Beastmode wouldn’t do that, would he?
During the fourth quarter of Super Bowl 50, Marshawn Lynch, whose team was eliminated from the playoffs three weeks prior, stole a scrap of the game’s thunder with a cryptic tweet that seemed to announce his retirement. The assumption was confirmed the next day when his agent made it clear: Beastmode is going to begin the transition to Feastmode.
According to Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole though, Lynch’s teammates aren’t so sure. On Thursday Cole reported that some members of the Seahawks think Lynch is sure to have second thoughts about his retirement. They believe he’ll try to work his way back into the league next fall and they have an idea about why he’s announcing his retirement now.
“After missing much of the off-season program, which is what they calculate is going to happen, they expect that Lynch will have some interest in playing again,” Cole says. Emphasis ours.
If Lynch does decide to un-retire in time for next season, he will have missed the league’s nine-week off-season program, a mid-summer mandatory mini camp and a month of training camp.
He’ll also have no shortage of suitors. The 29-year-old’s 2015 season was hampered by injury, but he’s only one year removed from a 1,300-yard rushing season. Most NFL teams are employing two and three running back committees these days. A two-time rushing TD champ would have no trouble joining one of them.
On the other hand, if Lynch does indeed hang his neon green sneakers up for a final time, that’ll be pretty easy to understand. He may not even be 30, but he’s been in the NFL for 10 years. He’s taken thousands of hits and made millions of dollars.
Fifty million to be precise, and he’s reportedly not spent a penny of it. Despite his less-than-affable attitude with the media, Lynch has parlayed his fame into a lucrative endorsement career that’s garnered $5 million a year, more than enough for him to live on.
For now, we wait. And in September we’ll find out if Lynch was sincere about his retirement or if he’s just paved the way for veteran athletes to get out of pesky off-season work and still get paid.
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