Seahawks won't go after Marshawn Lynch signing bonus money, per report

The Seahawks will not seek to recoup $5 million in signing bonus money that they'd be entitled to after Marshawn Lynch retired two weeks ago, reports Ian Rapoport.

Catching up on a things... don't expect #Seahawks to ask for Marshawn Lynch's $5M in signing bonus back. Both sides seem pleased with outcome

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 17, 2016

This makes some sense, and it's typical of the type of class the Seahawks organization under Paul Allen has regularly demonstrated. As Stephen Cohen pointed out on twitter, it also jives with what John Schneider told Brock Huard and Mike Salk in January.

"I just know that we're going to treat him with as much respect as we possibly can here," said Schneider at the time, when asked about Lynch's plans going forward, "and give him a little leeway to kind of find his way in terms of what he wants to do."

Lynch ultimately retired, as you know, and apparently that respect extends into his retirement.

Reading between the lines on this, it means the Seahawks want to honor his contributions to the team by allowing him to keep that money that they obviously feel he has earned. It's also a political move to allow Lynch to keep that money, as BeastMode is pretty universally loved in that locker room and holds a lot of sway with current players. There could be complications created by going after that money that extend further than the relationship between Lynch and the front office. At the end of the day, it's a great showing of goodwill, and reconciliation for any disputes that may still be lingering between the two sides.

Of course, I doubt the team will confirm this news, and they sure as hell would not comment on it if they did indeed go after Lynch's signing bonus money.

Either way, assuming this report is true, it means that Lynch will still count for $5M against the Seahawks cap in 2016.