DANNY ONEIL

Even if he is considering a comeback, Marshawn Lynch won’t return to the Seahawks

Sep 9, 2016, 10:14 AM | Updated: 10:59 am

The Seahawks moved on from Marshawn Lynch when he retired after five and a half seasons with Seattl...

The Seahawks moved on from Marshawn Lynch when he retired after five and a half seasons with Seattle. (AP)

(AP)

Marshawn Lynch has carried the ball for the last time as a Seahawk.

Apparently that needs to be stated bluntly in the wake of Thursday’s report that Lynch is “up in the air” on a potential return.

That’s not to question the legitimacy of the report. He may very well be considering it. Then again, he was up in the air on playing going back to 2013 when he told teammates that he would retire if the Seahawks in fact won a Super Bowl.

To try and predict what he’ll do is silly. To wonder if he’ll return to the Seahawks is insane, and I say that as someone who is in position to milk that conversation dry.

People in Seattle love Lynch, and rightfully so. I’ve covered the team for more than a decade now, thereby defrocked of rooting interest, and I will tell you that he is one of the five most intriguing people I’ve ever been around. He took a picture with my mom less than two weeks ago, and he couldn’t have been nicer. I bought her a Beast Mode T-shirt.

And as someone who works in sports-talk radio, the easiest thing to fill three hours of a Friday show would be to ask if Lynch should return to the Seahawks and announce that the phone lines are open at (206) 421-3776.

But that would be disingenuous. Lynch isn’t coming back to Seattle.

That’s not based on a super-secret source. It’s not based on a personal conversation. It’s my understanding of the situation and my reputation covering this team. Lynch is not playing for the Seahawks again.

The only question about his time with the Seahawks is the transactional conclusion. Will it end with his retirement or will he be released?

Because it’s possible that he’ll get the itch to play football again. It’s possible that he’s always been so tight-lipped about his plans that it’s given rise to this speculation. Either way, it undoubtedly helps awareness of his clothing line and the retail store that is being planned for Seattle.

But the Seahawks have moved on. They’re not paying him $9 million to play for them. They might not pay him $2 million to play for them.

The cold, hard math is that he wasn’t the Seahawks’ best running back last year. The Seahawks are not going to pay him six times what the rest of their running backs will make this season based on what he did two years ago.

The question is, does Lynch really want to be Shaun Alexander? Or Edgerrin James? Or Franco Harris? Does he want to be a Hall of Fame talent who has a swan song with an absolute stranger of a team?

No one would begrudge him if he did. Sports is about testing your limits, and for a guy whose career was built on a defiant refusal to go down, it would be completely understandable if he insisted on another opportunity.

But that opportunity is not going to be in Seattle, and while it might be fun to entertain or debate that thought, it’s not going to happen.

Danny and Gallant Show

Wyman & Bob

Danny ONeil

Seahawks Quandre Diggs...

Danny O'Neil

O’Neil: Seahawks have uncertainty with a player ‘holding in,’ but it’s not Quandre Diggs

While Quandre Diggs appears to be the third Seahawks player to "hold-in" during training camp, Danny O'Neil writes that it's Duane Brown whose future is up in the air.

3 years ago

Follow @dannyoneil...

Danny O'Neil

AZ Good AZ it Gets

SPONSORED – Phoenix was the place where the rest of the country found out that Seattle fans took their enthusiasm on the road with them. That was 2013. It’s also the place where I discovered how restorative a desert vacation can be. That was 2015. Let’s start with the screaming. That’s what caught everyone’s attention […]

3 years ago

Mariners Jarred Kelenic...

Danny O'Neil

O’Neil: Mariners aren’t handing the spotlight over to Seahawks just yet

This is the time of year that Seattle tends to shift its focus to the gridiron, but the Mariners are still commanding attention.

3 years ago

Seahawks Duane Brown...

Danny O'Neil

O’Neil: When Seahawks decide not to extend players, they’re rarely wrong

If you think the Seahawks must sign Duane Brown to an extension, when's the last time they opted against re-signing someone and it came back to bite them?

3 years ago

Follow @dannyoneil...

Danny O'Neil

Oh, LA, LA!

Week 15, Dec. 19: Seattle at Los Angeles Rams, SoFi Stadium, 1:25 p.m. Pacific SPONSORED – Maybe it was fitting that the opening act for the first pro-football game I covered in Los Angeles was a rock band I loved as a teenager. There’s no place that makes me think of growing up more than […]

3 years ago

Follow @dannyoneil...

Danny O'Neil

Star in a Lone Star Adventure

Week 14, Dec. 12: Seattle at Houston Texans, NRG Stadium, 10 a.m. Pacific SPONSORED – Enchiladas and greatness. That’s what I think of in Texas. The enchiladas are pretty straightforward. They’re so delicious at El Tiempo Cantina that it’s hard to take a bite without closing my eyes. There are three locations though the one […]

3 years ago

Even if he is considering a comeback, Marshawn Lynch won’t return to the Seahawks