Lynch’s call with reporters doesn’t satisfy obligation to meet with media

Posted by Mike Florio on November 17, 2014, 9:41 AM EST
AP

The NFL threatened to fine Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch $100,000 if he failed to meet with reporters after Sunday’s game with the Chiefs.  After Sunday’s game with the Chiefs, Lynch failed to meet with reporters.

But Lynch did talk to a reporter and a former teammate/current analyst by phone, speaking with Mike Silver and former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson after leaving the locker room.  Since both work for the league, Lynch may have believed that, in the eyes of the league, that would be enough.

We’ll find out soon whether it is.  Initial indications are that it’s not, and that a stiff fine is indeed coming for Lynch.

As we’ve been told (and we’ll now tell you), stay tuned.

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43 responses to “Lynch’s call with reporters doesn’t satisfy obligation to meet with media”

  2. Put him on the exempt list until he complies then dicker for 8-10 games while you decide if what he did was going to cost you a sponsorship. Then wonder why you get booed as you give your opening remarks on day one of the next draft…

  3. Trouble brewing in Seattle with this guy…

    Coach says he stayed on field for halftime to not have the temperature change on his tweaked calf. Lynch says he stayed out because his back hurt so bad he couldn’t walk. Yet first play of second half, hand off to Lynch.

    Seattle knows without Lynch, they may not win another game. Tough spot to be in dealing with his crap.

  4. This guy is nothing but an attention seeking prima donna. Who cares what he thinks, he and others know the rules and just wants to consider himself above them just to get in the news by not abiding by them.

  5. Fine him 200k… 100 each for the past two games.

    Double the fines for each successive game he continues the little chess match. Maybe he’ll figure it out when silent… and broke.

    Wasting way too much time on this.

  6. PS – if you don’t want to talk with the media in person after the games… go do something else.
    No one forcing a football career here.

  7. Leave the guy alone. Lynch, just go out and answer ” I don’t Know” then the media will Blow that up. That way they can have the sound bite and No information.

  9. Of course they’ll win another game with or without Lynch. They’re only playing the Cardinals, the Rams, the 49ers and the Eagles.

    11-5.

  10. A ton of people saw his interview last year.
    it was painfully awkward and marshawn did not know what to do or say.
    why does the nfl want him to go through that again.

  11. Sorry, but I fail to see why players are obligated to talk to the media after a game. It’s absurd. On top of that, what you get out of them is 99% repeated buzzwords and phrases like “we’ve faced a lot of adversity this year…We win and lose as a team…” Blah blah blah. I rarely care what a player has to say.

  12. Requiring football players and football coaches to talk to the media is stupid. Who cares what cliche the are saying this week? Maybe Marshawn doesn’t know any cliches. When I’m listening to sports radio and they bring an athlete on for an interview, I normally switch the station. Its a waste of my time.

  13. I don’t get the issue here. Just stand in front of a microphone for 5 minutes and give non-answers to boring questions and save yourself the headache (and the money). No one since Jim Mora has said anything worth listening to in a post game interview. Just get it over with.

  14. He can be on an episode of the league but he can’t talk to the media? This is just getting silly. You don’t have to work for the nfl.

  15. Talk to the media without saying anything. One word answers to all questions or “we’re on to____” to every question..

    Pete and John did a tremendous job putting together a winner especially considering the total pile of dung Ruskell left behind. Unfotunately, they don’t seem nearly adept at keeping it all together. Mishandling Lynch, Harvin fiasco, not addressing glaring needs on O-line except through later round picks, trying to get too cute with draft picks and draft day trades

  17. osiris33 says:
    Nov 17, 2014 10:02 AM
    Of course they’ll win another game with or without Lynch. They’re only playing the Cardinals, the Rams, the 49ers and the Eagles.

    11-5.

    —————————————————————-

    I like the way you think Sir…

    GO HAWKS!!!

  20. Why is he so special that he doesn’t need to talk to the media. Some of these players are so important that they “run” by their own rules.
    Nice way to behave, but who really cares? Maybe Marshawn can’t string a sentence together like a lot of others. Some of these players are completely illiterate when they speak.

  21. Meh – I see both sides. Lynch has nothing interesting to say, so why even bother? But, on the flip side, the NFL wants player access for the only reason it exists – the fans.

    Quite honestly, I can’t remember the last time I really cared what an NFL player had to say about anything anyway. Most of these guys have the smarts of a box of rocks and the personality of a door knob.

  22. Agreed, who cares. However, I can’t remember playing so many Prima Donna Cry Babies and we play Phillip Rivers twice every year. Was wrong about Sherman though he seemed to be a class act all game.

  23. Freedom of speech isn’t always an excuse for just loudmouths. Marshawn Lynch should not have to talk to anybody if he doesn’t want to.

    I read a lot of comments stating what’s the big deal?

    Well, what’s the big deal if he doesn’t?

    Marshawn is an adult and should be able to not do something he doesn’t want to do.

    This is coming from a NY Giants fan that just had Lynch run them into the ground.

  24. There should not be an obligation to meet with the media. If Lynch doesn’t want to meet with the media then he shouldn’t have to. You can sum up what he is going to say anyway. “It’s just about that action, boss!”

  25. What a heinous crime. The NFL has guys that beat their kids & drag their GF’s around by the hair, i.e. bigger fish to fry than some guy that doesn’t want to be in the lime light. Figure it out Goodell……

  26. He knew what his obligations were and he chose to ignore him. My problem is not with the NFL fining him. It is for ignoring the issue for 9 weeks. Fine him at game 1 and then game two and the problem goes away. The NFL invites disobedience/noncompliance every time they let it slide. Then they are viewed badly when they finally act. Establish standards and then enforce them without regard to status or timing. It also helps with the consistency problem the league perpetuates through their stupidity and by searching for every last sponsorship dollar.

  27. Have Marshawn go to the Bill Belichick school of postgame media talks……….Problem solved!

  31. Give the players freedom of silence…absolutely…so very tired of the media and the bs…and aren’t those half-time chats with the coaches utterly eye-opening…

  33. Don’t understand the requirement to talk to the media. The guy doesn’t like to talk… leave him alone. What’s wrong with someone who actually DOESN’T want to talk? He’s more interested in playing football then talking, which probably explains why he’s the best of the best. More people should be like that.

  34. Marshawn needs to get diagnosed with a group social phobia. Then request not going to group press conferences as a reasonable job accommodation under the Americans with Disability Act. Every athlete interview is full of the same cliches. The only one I’ve enjoy in recent memory was the Erin Andrews/ Richard Sherman sideline interview after the Seattle/49ers game last post season. It was the first honest interview I’d seen in a long time.

  35. Message to NFL & Media: Fans don’t care to hear from a player who doesn’t want to speak.

    The only value in hearing Post or Pre-game conferences is to hear from a Coach about player health & participation. Nothing of value, apart from that, is ever said. Period.

  36. He may end up getting find more dollars by his organization for blowing off the half-time team meeting during the game than not addressing the media…very talented head case (Buffalo already knew this).

  37. Probably 8-10 times I’ve been up close and personal at some event that was covered by the national media. Not once did the person reporting it report exactly what I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears. Long ago big media quit telling us the story and started telling us only the part of the story that makes them money off of it. Why are players forced by the media and the NFL
    to speak to the media? That’s easy: MONEY. OVER. EVERYTHING.

  39. how much coverage do we really need of this story? if he actually gets a fine, I guess it’s a story. report it then.

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