The effort of Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch to get more money from the team could soon get a lot more interesting. And for Lynch a lot more expensive.
At a time when he’s considering a boycott of the team’s mandatory minicamp and the $70,000 or so in fines that would flow from it, Lynch also reportedly has discussed walking away from the game.
If he does, he’ll owe a lot more than $70,000.
Lynch received a $6 million signing bonus when he agreed to terms on a four-year deal in 2012. With an annual allocation of $1.5 million, Lynch has earned half of the money. If he quits football, the labor deal allows the Seahawks to easily recover half of the total money.
The total stakes for Lynch, when factoring in lost wages for 2014 of $5.5 million, become $8.5 million. Which is a mere $2.5 million less than what he has earned in the first two seasons of his current contract.
In other words, it would be stupid for Lynch to retire. And it would be smart for the Seahawks to unruffle his feathers with some sort of contractual adjustment.
Unless, of course, the Seahawks haven’t decided to commence the process of passing the tailback torch to other guys on the roster. There’s a chance that Lynch’s current behavior may not be the result of an effort to improve his status with the team but to ensure that he’s not being phased out.
And there’s a chance that he is.