Marshawn Lynch’s visit to Raiders headquarters reportedly included Lynch telling the team that he’s ready to end his retirement in order to return to the NFL to play for Oakland.
He’s reportedly ready to let the NFL know he’s ready to return as well. Ed Werder of ESPN reports that Lynch has started the reinstatement process in hopes of joining the Raiders.
Once Lynch files reinstatement papers, his $9 million cap hit would be added to the rest of the salaries in Seattle and that would likely lead to a quick resolution as the Seahawks don’t have the cap space -- the NFLPA has them with $9,836,983 in cap space --to keep him on the roster for long without clearing out other money to sign this year’s draft picks or make other tweaks to the roster.
There was a report this week that Lynch could also look to latch on with the Patriots if things didn’t work out with the Raiders and Werder adds that Lynch “could team with Richard Sherman” if the cornerback is traded. That’s been much discussed of late, but there would be less pressure on the Seahawks to bring that situation to an end as there would be to removing Lynch from their cap.