Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch doesn’t have anything to say to the media. Except when the member of the media is a guy who used to play with Marshawn Lynch.
Lynch, who has become notorious for exiting the locker room before talking to reporters and who more recently has responded to media questions with “yeah” and “nope” answers, sat down for a truly exclusive on-camera, one-on-one session with former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson.
“I ain’t got nothing to say,” Lynch said in defense of his style. “I just wanna play football.”
Of course, Lynch had plenty to say to Robinson, despite Lynch’s stated approach. Among the things Lynch said is that he realizes his relationship with the media could keep him out of the Hall of Fame.
“You know who votes for that,” Lynch said, via NFL.com. “They don’t seem to . . . see eye to eye with me, which is cool. And if I’m not, [expletive], I’ll still live.”
While Lynch’s handling of the media won’t help him (then again, it ultimately didn’t hurt Warren Sapp), the bigger problem for Lynch is his career production. Currently, he’s 39th on the all-time rushing list, with 8,345 yards. That puts him well behind non-Hall of Famers like Jerome Bettis (13,662), Fred Taylor (11,695), Corey Dillon (11,241), Warrick Dunn (10,967), Ricky Watters (10,643), Jamal Lewis (10,607), Thomas Jones (10,591), Tiki Barber (10,449), Eddie George (10,441), Ottis Anderson (10,273), and Ricky Williams (10,009).
So Lynch, who’s now 28, needs several more years of high-level production to even be in the conversation for Cantonization. For a guy who reportedly is musing privately about retirement every year, the biggest impediment to Marshawn Lynch getting into the Hall of Fame ultimately could be Marshawn Lynch.