Marshawn Lynch is having second thoughts about his NFL Career
Marshawn Lynch’s future in the NFL remains under question after his former team-mate said the running back isn’t sure if he will return next season. “My bet would be that he plays next year in Seattle,” Michael Robinson said last week. Robinson played alongside Lynch at Seattle until he retired at the end of the 2013 season. “I don’t think Marshawn knows yet. I don’t know what the timeline is. It’s probably going to be a feel thing and we’ll just see like everybody else.” Although Lynch is still only 28, he is one of the most physical running backs in the league and Robinson believes he is aware of the toll the game takes on his body. “Marshawn is getting to a point in his life where he may want to enjoy other things that are important to him,” Robinson said. Lynch stands to earn $7m in 2015, which will be the last year of his contract with the Seahawks but Robinson believes money will not influence the decision. “I don’t think it factors in too much,” Robinson said, “but obviously this is a business. With the running back position being so devalued, I think he wants to be paid like the heartbeat of the team, which he should be. He knows that he has the leverage. He knows that he’s the best back in the league. He knows he’s a difference maker not only on the field but off the field.” With a reference to Lynch’s famed reticence, in front of the media at least, Robinson said it was difficult to know exactly what his former team-mate was thinking. “C’mon, man, it’s Marshawn,” Robinson said. “Has he had enough football? You can’t ask him that right after the season because your body is telling you yes. Right now you just have to let him wait it out, see how the offseason goes, let him get his body right again and then you will see if he wants to come back or not.” A top NFL tipster will suggest that the decision not to have Lynch run the ball in the last play for the Super Bowl might be a reason for his decision to pack it all in.
On another note, a few weeks after the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks a scandal continues to rumble on in the background, one often referred to as “DeflateGate”, when a Patriots locker room attendant attempted to introduce an unapproved special teams ball into the AFC Championship game. The attendant, identified as Jim McNally, is said to have been in charge of the officials’ locker room at Gilette Stadium since 2008. He is alleged to have handed a ball, which wasn’t officially approved for kick-offs, field goals and punts to an official during the first-half of the Patriots’ 45-7 victory over the Colts. Locker room attendants do not usually handle footballs during the game and therefore McNally’s behaviour was suspicious enough for the official to inform the NFL’s vice president of game operations, Mike Kensil. The Patriots are currently under an NFL investigation over the DeflateGate scandal but they deny allegations that they deliberately used underinflated balls during their win over the Colts. New England face a fine or a forfeit of Draft picks if they are found guilty.