After playing nine NFL seasons with the Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks, running back Marshawn Lynch announced his retirement from the NFL after the 2015 season.
He sat out all of 2016, but then he suddenly got the urge to return to the NFL and when his hometown Oakland Raiders came calling, he could not resist coming back and putting on the Silver and Black uniform that he grew up rooting for.
Lynch has since spent two seasons with the Raiders, and while he and the team did not win nearly as many games as they had hoped, it still had to be special for him playing for his hometown team.
Now a free agent, the Raiders have not expressed much interest in bringing Lynch back. Oakland has signed running backs Isaiah Crowell and Jalen Richard this offseason, and reportedly have plans to draft another one as well.
Instead of playing for another team, Lynch has reportedly decided to retire from the NFL for a second time, via Adam Schefter of ESPN:
After two seasons playing for his hometown Oakland Raiders, Marshawn Lynch is not planning to play football again, league sources tell ESPN.
Now, with the three-day draft kicking off Thursday night in Nashville, the Raiders have one more potential need to address: running back.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 24, 2019
Lynch didn’t produce at the same level in his two years with the Raiders that he did with the Seahawks but he was still a fan favorite for his charisma on and off the field. Lynch was the Raiders’ nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2018 for everything he did in the Oakland community, which is the community he grew up in.
If he is retiring and his career is complete, Lynch will likely be headed to the Hall of Fame in a few years. The five-time Pro Bowler and former All-Pro rushed for 10,379 yards in his career with 93 total touchdowns while winning one Super Bowl with Seattle.
