During an interview with 60 Minutes last June, Marshawn Lynch swore up and down that he was not going to return to the NFL at any point in time after announcing his retirement during the Super Bowl in February 2016.
"I’m retired," he said. "Is that good enough? Which camera do you want me to look into? I’m done. I’m not playing football anymore."
That seemed pretty definitive to us. But it sounds like Lynch might be second-guessing his decision to call it quits.
During his radio show on 95.7 The Game on Thursday, Raiders broadcaster Greg Papa hinted that the Raiders might be looking to make a big splash this offseason by signing a "certain running back" to a contract. He wouldn’t say who it was. But he did say that the running back he was talking about "did not even play in the NFL last year," which naturally led many people to assume he was talking about Lynch, who is an Oakland native.
And then, on Friday morning, ESPN reporters Adam Schefter and Josina Anderson added to the speculation by sending out this tweet about how the Raiders are reportedly thinking about trying to work out a trade for Lynch with the Seahawks, the team that still owns the rights to his football services.
"It could really happen," a source told Schefter and Anderson.
NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport also added this:
So is Beast Mode coming back? At this point, it’s obviously too early to tell. But there are plenty of NFL fans out there, including many in the Bay Area, who are freaking out over the possibility of Lynch making his return to the football field.
The NFL is a better place when Marshawn Lynch is in it.
Lynch looks like he's been enjoying retirement, but we'll just have to wait and see how far these rumors take us.
