What we all glaringly missed with Marshawn

Hasselbeck

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This kind of dawned on me between reading the column Mike Silver wrote about him, as well as kearly's footnote that he would like to see us keep Marshawn next season..

Pretty much everyone that remotely follows the Seahawks knows this is likely Marshawn's last season in Seattle under his current contract. And if the fans know that, you know damn well that Marshawn Lynch knows that.

You know what motivates a player more than anything in this game today?

The illustrious "contract year."

You see it every year in sports, but especially football.. when a player is about to become a Free Agent, they have an outstanding and many times a career season.

Remember the fears that a holdout would create complacency from Lynch? That he'd show up out of shape.. that all the tread on his tires would start to surface. That Christine Michael would emerge as the #1 back as 2015 drew closer.

Well.. Christine Michael may well be the #1 RB a year from now.. but Marshawn Lynch is going to make sure he gets paid by someone next year.. and the best way to do that is to show up in the best shape of your life (check), and have the best year of your career.

This is going to be a fun year..
 

TDOTSEAHAWK

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I still am not so sure we aren't going to keep him until his contract expires. Lynch is an elite talent and truly a once in a generation players. Rarely do you see a guy have such great lateral movement and vision come in a body that requires 3 guys to tackle him. The last guy that I can remember like this is a young Jerome Bettis, who although doesn't get much love around these parts, was an elite talent in his own right. An even closer comparison would be Earl Campbell.

We are going to pay him the same amount next year as this year and he will be only 29 going on 30 next year. Moreover, the cap should be going up further to accommodate Russell Wilson. I obviously see a few scenarios where he gets cut but he has been as important to this team's success as anyone else - and probably the most important piece of the last two years.
 

Mick063

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Lynch will be the most difficult decision this front office will have had to make in their tenure.

It really boils down to long term strategy verse short term strategy. I personally believe Lynch will be playing for another team and playing damn well for them. This is the NFL business side that fans are increasingly beginning to despise. For you younger fans, the best part about the glory years of the 70's was watching your favorite players on your favorite team for an entire career. Something precious was lost with the salary cap. However, we do get parity as a reward. Built in parity sucks for champions though and perpetual greatness is nearly impossible because of it.

I see graphics that depict "most X in the Super Bowl era". This is a poor representation. A better representation would be "most X in the salary cap era". There truly is more difference in before/after salary cap than there is before/after Super Bowl.

It is sad when rival fans wait for big paydays to level the playing field. It is the single biggest change in fan perception of the NFL in my lifetime.

There will be a ton of angry debate about Lynch. Ten times more than there was about Alexander, Hasselbeck, or Hutchinson.

The capologists are of equal importance to coaches and general managers. This is how the NFL works.
 

hawknation2014

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It's way too early to say what will happen with Marshawn next year. He's in amazing shape and is only owed $7 million in 2015. If he continues to compete at this high level, they will want him back. Unless he decides to holdout again and they can't make a reasonable agreement.
 

NJSeahawk

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I hope he stays, gets paid what he wants, stays healthy, enjoys a hof career, then retires with us.


Then we construct a statue of the beastquake outside the Clink.
 

CalgaryHawk

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It will be sad not to have Beast Mode any longer, but I think Lynch will be cut and Okung will not be resigned to make room for Wilson''s new contract next year. If Okung has a decent, injury free year, then I predict the Hawks would slap the franchise tag on him and then trade him for whatever draft pick they can get to clear cap space.
 

warden

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We do not know what is going to happen next year with Lynch, all this stuff that he is gone after this season is just speculation.

The team is still processing information. In their grand master plan they probably have plans both scenarios

Does Marshawn play up to his contract? will be a key question, if he is getting 1600+ yards and starts scoring 15 + TDs, it is most likely that he remains for another season.

Next is how much of the Salary cap hits of players that are getting renewed be pushed down the road. Yes Wilson is going to command huge dollars but they can structure it in away that it is cap friendly first year so we can keep Lynch and sign others.

Next is health, if Lynch gets injured, he is unlikely he will be back, but injuries to Michael or Turbin could make keeping Lynch more desirable.

Lots of information needs to be processed first
 

bigDhawk

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If we cut him after this season, Oakland will likely money-whip him with a huge, multi-year deal with all their cap space, allowing him to retire in his home town while devoting all his off the field time to his foundation. And I wouldn't blame him one bit for taking such a deal if it goes down that way. He would be profoundly missed, though. We really need find a way to pick up the final year of his contract for 2015.
 

Sgt. Largent

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I don't know anybody that "glaringly missed" that this is now a contract year for Lynch.

The writing was on the wall when we bumped up his salary this year because the thought was he wasn't going to be playing out his contract.

If I had to guess is the concession was John said "we'll give you extra money this year so you're happy, and if you have another great season we'll talk about an extension next off season."
 

Attyla the Hawk

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There is always the possibility that Seattle allows Lynch to remain.

Wilson is going to get paid. And it'll likely balloon the offensive side of the cap ledger by 9m. Currently the team is pretty close to 50% offense to defense.

It's merely conventional wisdom that Lynch is released. The signs are pretty clear (drafted Michael in '12, turned his 2015 dead money into 2014 salary etc.). For Seattle to keep him, they'll have to make up that salary savings. It will definitely require that we cannibalize some defensive salary. Either in full or in part. And it would mean losing 2 or more starters on top of the 3-5 that we are assuredly going to lose in their UFA year.

The starters that we would lose definitely would not be as irreplaceable as Lynch. But the reality would be, that we would be relinquishing a couple younger starters in order to retain an older, still very functional back. And there is no guarantee that Lynch will look as good this time next year.

There is a huge cost to keeping him. We could pay that cost and roll the dice. But this roster is cared for on all sides. Keeping Lynch will sacrifice that considerably. Keeping him is akin to mortgaging the future for more competitive quality today. That's how teams slip into boom/bust cycles.
 

mikeak

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The need for cap space is very much misunderstood by people including media. It is a belief created without much facts.

We have gone over the numbers and the seahawks are in good shape for next year (not going over every single number again right now). In addition there is a significant bump expected in the cap space due to the new tv contract. Just look at this year that wasn't supposed to get more than 1-2 million and had a significantly larger increase.

Then finally when looking at NEXT year it is actually all the extensions we did THIS year that will hit next year. RW will get an extension next year. Say $18M / year with $20M signing bonus. Well that signing bonus will hit prorated but everything else will hit starting the year after.

The team can afford to keep Lynch if he keeps being as productive as he is
 

Sgt. Largent

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Attyla the Hawk":24r0jufq said:
There is a huge cost to keeping him. We could pay that cost and roll the dice. But this roster is cared for on all sides. Keeping Lynch will sacrifice that considerably. Keeping him is akin to mortgaging the future for more competitive quality today. That's how teams slip into boom/bust cycles.

Did you watch the game last night? There's a huge cost to NOT keeping him.

C-Mike can't even make it through a damn preseason carrying even half the load. All Lynch does is stay healthy and mow bitches down like they're made of paper mache.
 

NJSeahawk

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Sgt. Largent":wszll2mo said:
Attyla the Hawk":wszll2mo said:
There is a huge cost to keeping him. We could pay that cost and roll the dice. But this roster is cared for on all sides. Keeping Lynch will sacrifice that considerably. Keeping him is akin to mortgaging the future for more competitive quality today. That's how teams slip into boom/bust cycles.

Did you watch the game last night? There's a huge cost to NOT keeping him.

C-Mike can't even make it through a damn preseason carrying even half the load. All Lynch does is stay healthy and mow bitches down like they're made of paper mache.

all paper mache bitches must die. Keep the Lynch.
 

chris98251

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Lynch knows his shelf life, he will play with the reckless abandon he always does, the front office is not going to overpay or give him a long contract. He may get a 2 year extension if he's lucky. They have to believe they made good investments in Michael and Turbin or target another back in next year's draft if they don't. We let Bryant and Tate go, many feel Bryant was irreplaceable for run defense yet we are here with what we have.
 

kearly

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I think the ever-improving play of Lynch coupled with the lack of Michael forcing the issue means Lynch is probably a safe keep next season (that plus I think his non-guaranteed salary is only $5 million or so).

But the OP is right, Marshawn would do well to have the mentality of a contract year player. I don't think Lynch is playing any harder than he did before, but I do think this mentality bore fruit during the offseason where he's gotten his body into better and better shape each season. Lynch wants to get paid and keep getting paid, and he's earning it by busting his butt during vacation time.
 

Hawks46

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kearly":21fx0drx said:
I think the ever-improving play of Lynch coupled with the lack of Michael forcing the issue means Lynch is probably a safe keep next season (that plus I think his non-guaranteed salary is only $5 million or so).

But the OP is right, Marshawn would do well to have the mentality of a contract year player. I don't think Lynch is playing any harder than he did before, but I do think this mentality bore fruit during the offseason where he's gotten his body into better and better shape each season. Lynch wants to get paid and keep getting paid, and he's earning it by busting his butt during vacation time.

I'm not sure it's possible for Lynch to play any harder, honestly. He leaves it all on the field, which is what endears him to us. He'll be more effective as the OL gets better. That's what is amazing: he got, what, 1200 yards and 11 or more TD's last year ? And that's behind a pretty crappy OL, maybe the worst OL to ever win a Superbowl. So honestly, what we got out of Lynch last year was the LEAST we can expect from him. His production will go up as the passing game and Harvin pry a guy out of the box, and our OL dominates people up the middle like it just did.

Couple that with the (at least temporary) demise of some of the more potent defenses in the NFCW (I honestly can't see SF and AZ being as good as last year with all the injuries and suspensions), and Lynch will have a good enough year to get picked up next year. I see him getting a 2 year extension; it won't be a high dollar extension, but it also won't be a value contract either. It will likely be a fair contract to both sides.
 
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