Marshawn Lynch will hold out of training camp

Nothing good was ever going to come out of Jamaal Charles holding out.

One of the best all-round playmakers in the game earning a relative pittance compared to his peers. It’s no wonder Kansas City promptly paid up. They have enough drama brewing with Alex Smith.

Here was a team rewarding its best offensive weapon. A guy they were building around. The moment Charles held out, it was inevitable Marshawn Lynch would do the same.

What chance is there Seattle will act like the Chiefs? Charles’ cap hit in 2014 is now $9.6m. Marshawn Lynch takes up $7m. Will they pony up a few extra million?

Is it just a hit and hope situation from Lynch? It’s not like anyone expects him to be pulling double time during camp. He might as well stay away and just see what happens. I doubt the team are overly concerned by his no-show, he’s usually rested at this time of year anyway.

They’ll want Lynch for the season opener that’s for sure. But they’ll also see this as an opportunity to really challenge Christine Michael and Robert Turbin. They drafted both players for a reason and won’t feel like they have to pay Lynch two years removed from signing him to an extension.

And let’s be right here — what alternative does Lynch have? Nobody is likely to trade for (and pay) a running back with his punishing style who turns 29 next year. Great player — yes — but not a long term investment for anyone. I’m not sure even Lynch expects to play beyond the next year or two.

Seattle’s offense and Beast Mode were made for each other. He may see this as a point of principal but time is running out. Surely he won’t turn his back on his career just yet to make a statement? Yet that seems to be the only realistic threat he can make. Perhaps, in light of Sidney Rice’s retirement, they’ll give him a little extra to calm the storm?

Or maybe they’ll call his bluff?

It’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

34 Comments

  1. David M

    Only team I could see a trade with is the raiders, his home town..

    But would Oakland be willing to pay him, and give up a draft pick or two? The hawks arnt gonna give him away for free.

    That’s only if nothing happens here to make him happy.

    • SunPathPaul

      I know this sounds craZy, but if he holds out into the regular season, I would totally seek a trade!

      He is a top 5 back, and is paid like one. I sense that as badass as he is and fits PC and the Seahawks plan, he also doesn’t like to listen and participate. There is that one clip on the sidelines where PC is trying to teach and inform Lynch, and Lynch blows him off and says “I’ll just read it.”

      Well, that works great as a younger player with the willpower and fight to win…but as you age…?

      I feel as much as PC loves BeastMode, he is looking forward to having a RB that will listen and follow a bit more. This is why they sat Christine Michael. He needed to be taught to follow and behave, so as to learn in depth!

      We all kind of expect Lynch to be traded/Cut next year so we can pay the QB Russell Wilson! We can’t afford both~ and with Russell needed a BIG QB payout, something has to give…

      As much as I love BeastMode, he is not going to be around forever. I don’t like this holdout and expect no NEW money coming his way…

      Thoughts?

      • Hay stacker509

        I whole heartedly agree we trade him. I love beastmode and everything he has done for this team! But asking for another extension when we just gave you one is
        A. A bad precedence
        and
        B. Not the philosophy this team has earned
        If we trade him atleast we recover some more pics for next year and already have a pretty good depth at RB.
        My other thought is over the last 4 years teams have begun to shut beastmode down. Yes we have Wilson and they can’t gsme plan on shutting a passing, running, scrambling offense. Something has to give. New blood (ie micheals and turbin) injected into the offense and I think it will help ease some transition for us? Thoughts?

    • Madmark

      If we reach the 4th preseason game. I say trade him to the Raiders. Evidently Lynch missed some of the philosophy of this team and that’s the next player up. I doubt you have a problem with trading him to Oakland and that would just mean we keep Ware. I mean come on Darren McFadden when has he every set a tone for the team.

  2. Madmark

    Don’t get me wrong, I love what The Beast has brought us in Seattle. He is the guy who sets the tone for the offense on what physical means and he inspires the WHOLE team. He’s the guy you want to block for because of his effort and he’s the guy you have to rest from the bruising style of running he does. He’s still has 2 years on his contract and what he should be doing is showing us why the last year we should be paying close to 9 million dollars.
    I get a little POed when I see someone with 2 years left holding out. My example, I was in the U.S. Navy and I signed an 8 year contract for 6 years active duty and 2 years inactive reserve. I got into the advanced electronics program and 1year of schooling. What do you think the Navy would do if I said after 4 years service and schooling that I was holding out the last 2 year for better pay. I would end up in prison and I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t have a Lamborghini to worry about as I was doing my time.
    It’s time for the Athletes to face reality. If you signed the contract then honor it, but don’t do a Randy Johnson either, by slumping.
    This is a problem I see all to clearly. If you aren’t going to honor your contract because things have changed then your signature doesn’t mean squat.

    • Nick

      My only problem with that sentiment is that NFL teams aren’t required to “honor” the contract if they cut a player. I don’t have an issue with Lynch holding out for a better paycheck if he thinks he deserves it and wants to play his cards that way.

      I also don’t have a problem with the Hawks not giving him anymore money and rolling with CM and Turbin.

      • Arias

        The contract stipulates a player must make the roster in order to be paid. That’s why players treat contracts only by the guaranteed money. This is the same in the real world, if a company needs to cut costs it certainly has the right to layoff employees. If he wanted more guaranteed money in his later years, he certainly could have negotiated that into his contract. But most players, including Lynch, preferred their money up front which he got in the form of a signing bonus.

    • David M

      Couldn’t agree more.

      And regarding more. IF the hawks traded him, what would that be worth? Draft picks wise. The RB market value wise really has dropped. I’m guessing a 3rd and 5/6 round?

      • David M

        That was supposed to say regarding my previous post…

      • Madmark

        I’d settle for the 4th and the 5th we paided.

        • Jon

          I agree with this. If we get to make sure he does not play for a rival I would be good with that kind of comp.

  3. Mylegacy

    This is starting to p*ss me off…

    As the Green Bay public record showed – each NFL team gets enough money from their share of the National TV contract to pay 100% of their “Cap” share of wages and have a few bucks left over. That is not counting ONE dollar of their local TV money or ONE dollar of their attendance income. THEN – each team can blame their “Cap” for not being able to pay players – especially players like DaBeast who DEFINES Seattle’s Super Bowl winning offense – what they are worth.

    Some of you say: “we can’t set a precedent”, “he’s 30”, “it’s time for athletes to face reality…” The NFL pretty much destroyed the Players Union, it has crushed the players repeatedly. If I have to stand with Marshawn or stand with Goodell – I stand with Lynch.

    He has given his heart, his soul and every ounce of his magnificent talent and skill to this team – to us – the 12 – I say we stand with him. Period. The 1% can look after themselves they don’t need to turn us against our hero’s. Their hero’s are only good to deposit in banks. Our hero’s have to live with the results of mental and physical damage most of us couldn’t bear for a day.

    • Arias

      The FO still has to work under the rules of the CBA and salary cap. Taking a defiant stand is all well and good until the team has to face the repercussions of it being self destructive.

  4. Kyle

    Perhaps I’m being pedantic, but i have a big problem with Ian Rapoport’s tweet. The way he worded that really bothers me. They are not paying him?

    OK, I get it. I understand that he means that the Hawks are not going to give him a huge extension above what he is already earning. They are paying him. It just annoys me when language is used in such a loose way.

    • Arias

      It’s implied that he means they’re not paying him an increase over his current contract. If that’s accurate, which it currently appears to be the team’s stance at the moment, then it’s hard to fault him for reporting the fact.

  5. Jim Q

    Why not add a couple of million to his 2014 salary only —IF– he meets certain incentives, like he gets his 2 million if he exceeds 1500 yards or 15 TD’s or some such?

    That way it could be a win/win for Lynch’s desire for more $ and the Hawks desire to repeat as Champions. Sounds good on paper at least.

  6. Jarhead

    Trade Lynch? Jesus… Some Seahawks ‘fans’ can be hard to deal with, that’s granted, but this is just a whole other level. I can’t believe this. After everything he has done to reestablish the identity of this team and put it on the map? I guess they are the same fans who weren’t watching in the nineties when we couldn’t win a game. It’s okay to pay Harvin HIS ridiculous salary though. Gee whiz, we as fans don’t deserve an awesome player like Lunch sometimes. Regardless of the raise for which he is asking…

    • CC

      I agree with you – I don’t want him traded! I hope they work it out. We’ll see what happens with Percy – if he can’t stay healthy, he might not get his whole contract either. We’ll see what happens with him this year. Now if I was Marshawn, that would bother me more than guys like Sherm or Earl getting paid.

      • AlaskaHawk

        I agree that we shouldn’t trade him. He may just want more guaranteed money. He won’t get much if he breaks his leg in training camp.

        • CD

          Agree, if the formula isn’t broke, then don’t fix it. I would ride ML as much as we can, no trade.

          It’s not like any of us wouldn’t try the same thing, walk into your employer and ask for a raise if we could. There is no harm in trying, it’s not like the Hawks are losing money, or that ML hasn’t pulled his own weight. He will hold out until preseason game 4 then be back. No way he is giving up part of the signing bonus and the 7 mill for the year. ML says he wants to help his foundation, drives a Lamborghini, and is young, he will take the current money at some point as he knows it will be one of the last checks he deposits in his life.

          • Hawkritter

            I’m a first time poster long time reader. Thank you all for the great blog. I’ve been a Seahawk fan since 76. I really have to agree with Jarhead. I wonder what is going through Marshawns head, and the talk that he feels disrespected. Percy is going to make 24,000,000 over the first 3 years and Marshawn is going to make 16,000,000(if I understand the contracts right). Marshawn may have a higher guarantee but looks like Percy stands to make a lot more than Marshawn. I’m just speculating, but I know I would be pissed off. Marshawn sets the tone face of the franchise and so on. They pay Percy f***ing mega and he hasn’t done sh*t really. I love Percy and look forward to watching him do his thing, but I’m afraid that signing him may have been JS and PCs biggest mistake. The message that this one guy is worth so much more than the rest… The fact is we didn’t need Percy and we let some core players go this off season. While Percys’ cap hit is 13,400,000 for 2014. Marshawns’ guarantee for his whole contract is 17,000,000. I would rather have Beast mode than Percy, not to mention GT, Big Red, Chris Clemons ect. The fact that I see so many fans saying F Marshawn makes me sad. Sorry for the terrible grammar guys. Keep up the great work everyone. GO HAWKS!

            • Arias

              You can’t really compare the two because they play different positions. Top flight running backs don’t make as much as top flight wide receivers, that’s how the market dictates their salaries. While it’s true that Percy has yet to earn his contract yet, that doesn’t make Marshawn entitled to wide receiver money.

  7. CC

    I love Marshawn and I want to see him stay around this year, but I think we all know the odds were against him being on the team next year if he wouldn’t take a pay cut. Obviously, now, no way he’ll take a pay cut next year.

    The challenge is the contract was front loaded, like many of them are – and now after getting more than the yearly contract average for the first 2 years, now the lower years are here and he doesn’t want to play for “less money.” He’s not thinking about the yearly average, he’s just thinking, they want me to run hard and take less money.

    I see both sides of this – and understand that both sides have to take their stand. Marshawn is important to the team, but he has been paid well the last few years when the young guys haven’t. I think it is his turn to live with his contract.

    I also think comparing himself to Jamaal Charles isn’t fair – as Charles made $3m last year – not 7 million like Marshawn did.

    Let’s hope it all works out.

    • Burner

      Best post in this thread so far.

      Lynch has been richly rewarded for all his hard work over the last couple of seasons. And his current remuneration seems about right to me for a RB of his age and ability. I understand it’s a business and he’s got to make as much dough as he can, but it seems to me that he’s being pure greedy here to a franchise that has looked after and respected him.

      I hope ML and his advisers see sense and call a halt to this charade.

  8. UKhawk

    Think this is a very tough situation as word is he wants (more?) guaranteed money next year, the year the organisation probably wants to move on to a lower number at the RB position. Why not go the other way. & just release him from the last year of his contract if he feels he can get higher market value elsewhere than they are willing to offer??

  9. Alex

    Rather than trying to apply moral principles, let’s just apply cold, rational economic principles. Is he worth more to the Seahawks than what he’s being paid? Is he worth spending more cap room in 2015 (which would be the potential net effect of a renegotiation)? My answer is “NO”. We need to re-sign guys like KJ Wright, Russell Wilson, Jermaine Kearse, Byron Maxwell. This roster needs every dollar it can spare going forward. You don’t reward someone for past performance. You pay for what they can do now. Lynch is being paid a very fair rate for this year. If he does not want it, he can sit. If he does not cave in, you have to explore a trade. Running backs decline at his age. It’s just a statistical fact. Cold and hard reality in the capitalist jungle of the NFL.

  10. kevin mullen

    When I think of Marshawn, I think of one thing: tone setter.

    Look back at his first game with us and the first person off that Super Bowl plane, nothing better than to represent our team with tone setter Marshawn Lynch. We can’t trade him, not an option yet.

  11. JeffS

    all this is a direct consequence of the cuts of bryant,clemons and robinson.

    they show no loyalty to their warriors. lynch knows that they likely plan to cut him next year. this is his last chance. why be loyal to them? he’s just playing by schneider rules.

    they’ll have trouble making the playoffs without him. the shortcomings of bevell and cable will become evident.

    • Coug1990

      Jeff, not sure what why you feel the way you do. They have paid money to all those players. The Seahawks have paid all guaranteed money and signing bonuses that was owed. The non-guaranteed portion of the contract is just that, non-guaranteed. If the Seahawks were in breach of the contract, the players union would be the first to file a grievance against the team.

      The Seahawks rescued Marshawn Lynch from Buffalo. He was a mediocre rb that had lost his starting job there. Buffalo thought so much of him that they traded Marshawn for a 4th round pick. Even with Seattle he did not set the world on fire ((573 y, 3.5 ypc) until the Seahawks hired Cable and Bevell to run the offense the following year.

      Frankly, if it were a choice between two or five more years of JS/PC versus two or five more years of Marshawn, I am taking JS/PC EVERY time.

    • Jon

      The Defense and special teams of this team won a Superbowl. If the Offense had never gone on the field of play, the score would have been 16-8 Seahawks. You think the loss of Lynch means no playoffs? I think Lynch means a win or two for this team at most. What games did Lynch absolutely destroy the opponent last year? What games that we won would have been lost without him. I love Lynch, but in a world where some good RB’s are earning a couple million per year we pay Lynch top 5 money for being a top 5 RB.

      RB’s in this league I would rather have than Lynch? AP, McCoy, Charles.
      RB’s payed more than Lynch? AP, McCoy, Charles, Foster

  12. Austin

    Jon no offense but the offense played lights out as well and RW was basically unstoppable in the Super Bowl and had the 7th highest rated game in SB history. I think you’re selling the offense a little short.

  13. Steve Nelsen

    I was hoping Marshawn would not hold out and be the first member of the Championship core to test the Seahawks management and fans with the question of choosing team v. player. I love Marshawn. I love his style of play and his attitude toward life and football. I have one jersey and it is his.

    But, in this case, in my mind, I choose the team over Marshawn.

    Lynch just signed a front-loaded 4-year deal 2 years ago with a signing bonus he keeps even if the Hawks cut him next year. He is still one of the top 6 paid RBs in the league this year based on his salary alone, not including his bonus. He chose the front-loaded contract and it is a bit unfair to say that now that he is in the lower salary years and looking at what other backs are getting paid, that his salary is not fair.

    If he says, “The salary isn’t worth the damage another year will do to my body so it is time for me to retire.” Then, I would respect that 100% and thank him for his magnificent career. That day will come eventually, whether it is August 2014 or some day in 2015 or 2016.

    There is no realistic trade scenario for Marshawn. There are no teams looking to pay more for Marshawn than Seattle. He either plays for Seattle or he retires.

    I hope that he shows up tomorrow and the Seahawks waive the fines as he has accrued. He looked in great shape at minicamp so I am not worried about his holdout to this point affecting his readiness in 2015.

    If there is any middle ground, it could be to move some ($1 million) of his salary from next year to this year. The overall size of his four-year deal remains the same, so I don’t think the precedent is too bad. He would be the 5th highest paid back this year. And he might even be affordable enough next year to keep if he has a good season and he wants to play in 2015.

  14. Steve Nelsen

    Michael Robinson and others reporting that Marshawn is back in Seattle and will report to training camp tomorrow.

    He did not get a new contract or new money that he was seeking but will receive unspecified “financial concessions.” Not sure if that means some kind of performance bonuses or maybe it meant they moved some money from 2015 into 2014.

    • Steve Nelsen

      The financial concessions might just be waiving the fines some (or all) of the fines he has accumulated to this point.

      I hope the team did something and he is happy though. A sullen Beast Mode could be a distraction.

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