Marshawn Lynch telling people that he plans to retire, per report

Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch, one of the pillars of the Seattle offense for the past six seasons, has told people close to him he plans to retire, according to ESPN reporter Adam Schefter's sources.

This report echoes what Seahawks GM John Schneider said a few weeks ago -- that Lynch is currently leaning toward retirement. Schneider was on with Mike Salk and Brock Huard on 710 ESPN Seattle on January 22nd, breaking down the season while looking forward to next year, and the question obviously came up.

"I'm under the impression that's he's leaning towards retirement," Schneider told Brock and Salk. That said, Schneider admitted that it's still up in the air.  "I would have no idea," what will ultimately happen with Lynch, he said. "I just know that we're going to treat him with as much respect as we possibly can here and give him a little leeway to kind of find his way in terms of what he wants to do."

It's NFL.com's Ian Rapoport's understanding that Lynch will retire as well.

Of course, Lynch is hard to predict, so I'd say that it's not over until Lynch officially announces it himself. Lynch would still count $5M toward the Seahawks cap if he retires (a signing bonus pro-ration).