As the NFL Trade Deadline approaches, rumors and false reports sprout up everywhere. As such, names get paired with teams and suggestions are made. Often times, none of these ‘fantasy deals’ come to fruition, but, the bigger the name, the bigger the buzz.
No name has been bigger in the past few hours than Marshawn Lynch.
As per ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Seattle is almost certainly not going to retain running back Marshawn Lynch next year. If the report is true, this makes Lynch a perfect candidate for trade deadline fodder.
Fodder, not deals.
Despite the words being spelled out in the ESPN report — granted, the days leading up to the trade deadline and NFL draft and filled with more lies than truths — the Seahawks are not currently shopping Lynch. It would likely take an offer so outrageous that the Seahawks would have to accept for anything to get done.
Simply put, Lynch won’t be going anywhere in the coming hours.
Even at a lackluster 4-3, the Seahawks are a special franchise. Coming off a Super Bowl win, they feature an abnormal amount of talented players approaching large contracts, but without too many on their books yet. They are in the rare position of having kept key players long enough to utilize them in the prime of their careers. What’s most important is that quarterback Russell Wilson is among the lowest-paid in the league. This allows for a better dispersing of money unheard of across the National Football League.
This won’t last forever. In fact, it won’t last past this year. When 2014 ends, many of the stars of Seattle will be re-negotiating their contracts to better represent their place among their peers. When this happens, the Seahawks lose their players, their flexibility, and their edge.
Seattle may not become the first back-to-back Super Bowl Champion since ’05, but 2014 is, by far, the best chance they have to win a title again in the foreseeable future.
That is, only with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield.
