Rapoport: Marshawn Lynch wants to return and it’s “Raiders or bust”

The rumors that surfaced last week about Marshawn Lynch wanting to un-retire and join the Oakland Raiders seemed to be totally ... “slow news let’s start something” type news, but as of Monday the reports that Beast Mode’s not done with the NFL aren’t going away. On Monday morning, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted that his sources on Lynch confirm that his unretirement is “realer than it’s ever been” and that the only team he’ll play for is the Raiders.

Lynch announced his retirement during Super Bowl 50 on Twitter and confirmed last year that he’s totally done with the NFL. Though he turns 31 in April, and that’s old for a running back, it doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t be a significant contributor to an offense. Lynch may be looking at his hometown team and notice that Oakland has one of the league’s best offenses, a rising star at quarterback, and a huge hole at running back and realize that he may actually be able to live out a dream of helping the Raiders reach the Super Bowl. The dots are very simple to connect, but the movement of Lynch to Oakland are not without their complications.

First, the Seattle Seahawks would have to trade or release Lynch. There is virtually no logical way to see Lynch returning to the Seahawks ever. Will they try and get a conditional seventh round pick for Lynch? Will they just release him and go after some bonus money? John Schneider could have gone after $5 million in bonus money when Lynch retired but he left that alone; if Lynch forces his way to the Raiders, Schneider may change his mind about that.

I’m starting to believe that Lynch will play for the Oakland Raiders next season, but if it turns out that this was all just rumored nonsense, I’ll buy that too.

Raiders punter Marquette King is buying the rumors and trying to lure Lynch back to the league though: