Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch says if the team hadn’t announced its plans to move to Las Vegas, he probably wouldn’t have come out of retirement.
Asked today when he decided he wanted to come back and play for his hometown team, Lynch answered, “When I found out they was leaving.”
Lynch said he grew up in Oakland wanting to be a Raider and hopes to inspire children who are growing up in Oakland today.
“Just to play in Oakland is a dream come true,” Lynch said. “It’s always been something, being from Oakland, you want to play at home or have that opportunity. Them staying, it probably wouldn’t have been so big for me to want to come and play. But knowing that they were leaving and a lot of the kids here won’t have the opportunity to see most of their idols growing up be in their hometown anymore, me being from here, them continuing to be here, it gives them an opportunity to see somebody who actually did it from where they’re from.”
Lynch seemed relaxed and at ease today in his first conversation with reporters since becoming a Raider -- so relaxed, in fact, that NFL Network cut short the live broadcast when Lynch casually uttered a few swear words. Lynch hasn’t always been comfortable with the media, but in Oakland he feels at home.