Is Marshawn Lynch Retired?

A top level running back in his day, Marshawn Lynch is remembered for his aggressive running ability. Interestingly, many of his former coaches in the youth program felt there was a hidden reason behind Lynch and his angry runs. As a child, he didn’t have the best possible upbringing as his father was mostly in jail and his parents' unraveling relationship was a cause of burden.

Lynch though, was a multi sport athlete in his early days. Born in 1986, Lynch played football, basketball, track and wrestling while attending Oakland Tech High School and was highly skilled in all sports. He took his talent to the next level when he enrolled in the University of California, Berkeley. After seeing comparatively less action in his rookie year, he exploded on the scene in his sophomore year and put in back-to-back 1,000 plus yard seasons in 2005 and 2006. Following his junior year, Marshawn’s NFL career began in 2007 when the Buffalo Bills drafted him with the twelfth overall pick.

Marshawn Lynch’s NFL career

As a rookie Marshawn Lynch was not going to take time settling into the professional league. He put his foot on the accelerator from the very first instant and pranced his way to 1,115 rushing yards and 7 rushing touchdowns making the All-Rookie team in 2007. The next season saw very similar outputs from Lynch but before the 2009 season started he was found guilty of possessing a gun in his car due to which he was suspended for the first three games.

The off field controversy could have had a major impact for Lynch as that year was a very poor year for the normally aggressive runner. Putting up only 450 yards on the ground was not going to do him any good. With just a few games into his fourth year, the Bills traded him to the Seattle Seahawks.

Seattle would then become his new home for the next five and a half years. This time starting at a new place wasn’t as easy as earlier. It took time for Lynch to get back into his groove and thus had another quiet year altogether. However, the period from 2011 to 2014 was the best phase of his professional career as he registered four consecutive 1,000 plus yard seasons, double digit rushing touchdowns in all four seasons and was one of the more important players on the team which won Super Bowl XLVIII in the 2013 NFL season.

While in Seattle, he won over the fans with his exciting runs and dominance. He even had one the best rushing plays in the history of the NFL when he broke several tackles against the New Orleans Saints and took the ball 67 yards all the way for a touchdown. The play was so unbelievable that the stadium sent ripples due to the noise and thus he earned the nickname of ‘Beast Mode’.

When did Marshawn Lynch retire

In 2015 things began to fall apart for Lynch both on and off the field. On the field he suffered from some injuries and his performances dropped, while off the field he began to lose interest in the mandatory media interviews. As such, it was all starting to go downhill for the ferocious rusher.

While he was not performing up to the standards, the Seahawks backup running back was putting in some solid performances further sliding Lynch down the pecking order. As all of this was taking place, On February 7, 2016, the same day as Super Bowl 50, Marshawn announced his retirement from the game on Twitter.

In most cases this would be the end of a stellar career, but Lynch had other ideas. Being a native of Oakland, California, Lynch wanted to play for his hometown team which at that time was the Oakland Raiders (Las Vegas Raiders as of 2020). In April 2017 he therefore signed a two year deal with his native franchise and came out of retirement.

The first year back was pretty good considering Lynch was away from the league for an entire year. However, in his second season, he was limited to just six games as a groin injury kept him out for the remainder of the campaign. At the end of the 2018 season, Lynch vowed to not come back to the game and retired for a second time.

The story though isn’t quite over yet as Lynch did make one final comeback albeit it was for an extremely brief time. He came back for the final week of the 2019 regular season because the Seahawks had lost three of their running backs due to injuries. He made one regular season and two postseason appearances as the Seahawks eventually lost in the divisional round to the Green Bay Packers.

As of date, that was the last the NFL has seen of Lynch on the football field as a professional athlete. However, back in December 2020, he had mentioned in an interview that if there was a Super Bowl contending team interested in him, then he might consider coming back once again. This, though, does not seem likely to happen now that almost three years have gone by and there has been no further update on the topic at hand.