Through the last two days of reporting and rumor-mongering and 21-hour teases about the possible unretirement of Marshawn Lynch, the player has been silent. (Then again, he pretty much always is.)
On Saturday night, Lynch dropped a hint as to his plans on Twitter.
Lynch retweeted a message in which someone noticed that a musical playlist put together by Lynch contains a track titled “Oakland Raiders.” It’s one thing for someone to notice that; it’s quite another for Lynch to hit the button on Twitter that says to all of his followers, essentially, “Hey, everybody, look at this.”
Curiously, the playlist was created on September 3, 2015 -- as Lynch was preparing to begin what would be his final season with the Seahawks. More specifically, Lynch was preparing to play in his first game after Super Bowl XLIX, a game that ended with one of the most scrutinized pass-instead-of-run decisions in league history, which prompted Lynch to speculate while on TV in Turkey that someone didn’t want him to be the MVP of the game and, in turn, the “face of the nation.”
Coincidentally, or not, Seattle’s Week One game in 2015 included another controversial late-game decision on offense, with Lynch’s mother sounding off about offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, calling him the worst play-caller in the history of the league.
More than two years removed from Super Bowl XLIX, Lynch is close to becoming perhaps not the face of the nation or the face of the NFL but a player who captures the imagination of a fan base and who provides the league with an unlikely and compelling story line.
Not to mention thousands of silver and black jerseys with his name and number.