Seattle Seahawks Will Not Renegotiate with Marshawn Lynch
By Todd Pheifer
Is Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks still an amazing, powerful and elite running back in the NFL? Yes. Will that reality earn him more money? Probably not.
Reportedly, Lynch will skip mini-camp, even though he would face paying a fine for his absence. Lynch has always done his own thing, and skipping team activities is not unusual.
However, there is the theory that this is part of a strategy that may result in a holdout and a demand for a renegotiation. Despite his brilliance in 2013 and his likely effectiveness in 2014, the clock may be ticking on Lynch’s career.
Lynch just turned 28, which is young in real years but old in NFL career years. This is particularly true for running backs.
If Lynch starts to decline in 2014 and Christine Michael has a promising year, would the Seahawks drop Lynch like a bad habit? Yes.
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Sad if you are a fan of Beast Mode, but this is the cold, hard reality of the NFL. Players are offered contracts and they are faced with dilemmas. Sign a long-term deal, and have more security. Sign a short-term deal and remain flexible, but risk injury or lack of work if production goes down.
If the Seahawks were to renegotiate with Lynch halfway through his contract, it would send a bad message to other players that have great years. It isn’t like players are going to come in and give back money if they have a bad season or get hurt.
Is Lynch ($5 million salary in 2014) underpaid compared to Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, LeSean McCoy and Arian Foster? You could make that argument, but there is always financial inequality in sports.
Perhaps Lynch is not really holding out. Perhaps he is just being his evasive, private self. Maybe he skips mini-camp and then shows up at training camp ready to work.
Hopefully Lynch doesn’t think that he will get a new deal, because it seems unlikely that the Seahawks are going to be eager to work out a more lucrative contract. His best bet is to keep working hard and show that he is worth keeping beyond 2014.