Veteran NFL running back Marshawn Lynch seems adamant he’s finished playing football.
In an excerpt from an interview with Sports Illustrated and 60 Minutes, which will air in full on Tuesday’s 60 Minutes Sports on Showtime, Lynch confirmed he has retired.
“I’m retired. Is that good enough? Which camera do you want me to look into? This one? I’m done,” said Lynch, per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.
Lynch was the 12th overall pick in the 2007 draft and began his career with the Buffalo Bills, but he spent almost six of his nine seasons with the Seattle Seahawks, rushing for 9,112 yards and 74 touchdowns in total.
The 30-year-old ball-carrier, who also had 1,979 yards receiving and nine more scores on 252 catches, reiterated to Sports Illustrated‘s John Wertheim that he’s content to be on the sidelines.
“No, I’m done. I’m done,” Lynch said, per SI Wire. “I enjoyed my time playing, now it’s time to watch my cousins do their thing.”
Seattle also seems set to move on without Lynch in light of its decision to draft two running backs in C.J. Prosise and Alex Collins. Second-year back Thomas Rawls also ran for 830 yards last season on 5.6 yards per carry, proving he could handle a starter’s workload in Lynch’s absence.
But Doug Hendrickson, Lynch’s agent, isn’t completely convinced his client is finished.
“With Marshawn, I’ll never say never,” Hendrickson told 60 Minutes Sports, per SI Wire. “I think if you could write the perfect story as far as the last year of his career, if he played, come back to Oakland, it makes sense, right? But the reality is, look, he told me he’s done.”
The reason Hendrickson mentions the Oakland Raiders as a destination is because Lynch was born in Oakland and went to college at California.
A five-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl XLVIII champion, Lynch has little remaining to accomplish, but a homecoming to the Raiders would be a compelling final chapter if he does decide to come back.
He’d reunite with former Seahawks teammates Super Bowl MVP linebacker Malcolm Smith and linebacker Bruce Irvin and complement a promising young quarterback in Derek Carr. If Lynch stays true to his word, though, the possibility of him playing in Oakland this year is more of a pipe dream.
