Remember when LeBron James gave everyone the warm fuzzies by penning that personal essay about him returning to play in his hometown team two weeks ago? Well real life is back, so get ready to tuck that ball in and get smacked in the mouth.
In most industries, Marshawn Lynch holding out from Seahawks training camp to redo his current contact for more money would be a request that would be happily granted. He’s been an elite running back since being traded to Seattle in 2010, and was essential in bringing the Seahawks their first title off of three-straight 1200+ rushing seasons. He is the reliable running option that allows Russell Wilson to be so lethal throwing off of play fakes.
As we all well aware of, the NFL is not most industries.
While Lynch has certainly earned a raise, there’s a less than zero percent that he'll get it. In a league that doesn’t offer guaranteed contracts, Seattle could just pay whatever money is still owed to Lynch and cut him. It doesn’t help Lynch that his head coach is raving about his younger (see: cheaper) back-up.
Pete Carroll really hyped up RB Christine Michaels. Called him the Seahawks biggest breakout candidate.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) February 21, 2014
Running backs, especially ones with Lynch’s contact-prone running style, have an expiring shelf life that evaporates abruptly once they reach their late twenties. Lynch is 28. The days of Lynch being able to break 4329858 tackles are on their out.
Let us return to LeBron again. LeBron is 29 going on 30 this year and will be making around $20 million this year to play basketball. Lynch is owed $5 million this season. If only Skittles could be used as currency. I mean, you can pay for stuff with bit coin, so why not?
If we look at the top-ten paid backs in the league, only Lynch and the embattled Ray Rice have won titles. As the NFL continues to evolve into a passing league, running backs are going the way of the Motorolla Razr. The cruel joke is that the young legs that net titles are playing on cheap rookie deals and are already eroding in skill and health by the time they’re able to make their big money. I hope Lynch was able to sell the clothes off his back before this photoshoot to at least make a couple extra bucks.
Lynch did former teammate Michael Robinson a huge solid by breaking the news exclusively of his holdout to M-Rob. In fact, its Lynch’s current teammates that are his biggest foil. Seattle gifted lavish contracts to Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas over the off-season and a massive new contract for Ruseell Wilson is likely on the horizon. There’s simply no more raises Seattle can award.
Lynch is a negative return of investment. The only treatment that Lynch and LeBron can claim to share is how they decided to tell America about their future.
Beast Mode is going to make more t-shirts.
More comin up soon pic.twitter.com/5z0rK0TACS
— Shawn Lynch (@MoneyLynch) October 3, 2013
That's life.