It started with a claim that retired (for now) running back Marshawn Lynch has “signed” with the Raiders. It softened to a contention that Lynch and the Raiders have worked out a deal that hinges on the Raiders and Seahawks working out a trade.
At this point, who knows what the hell is going on?
Lynch himself has tweeted, essentially, that there is no deal. A source with knowledge of the situation separately tells PFT that the Raiders and Lynch are “not even close to a deal yet.”
Meanwhile, Dave “Softy” Mahler of KJR in Seattle said on the air within the past 20 minutes that agent Doug Hendrickson texted Mahler from Costa Rica to say there’s no deal.
While it could be a matter of semantics, it’s hard to reconcile multiple reports of a deal being in place with on-the-record claims from both Lynch and his agent that there is no deal. It’s possible that player and agent deliberately have avoided a deal in principle with the Raiders before the Raiders and Seahawks work out their end of the bargain. It could be that someone who wants to bring the issue to a head is overstating the situation to multiple reporters.
Whatever the case may be, and as we’ve seen over and over again in the NFL, no deal is done until it’s signed by both parties and no trade is official until both teams notify the league office of the transaction. Neither has happened in this case; until both do, Lynch isn’t a Raider.