Marshawn Lynch appears to deny early Raiders agreement news

On Twitter Friday afternoon, semi-sometimes-retired Marshawn Lynch seemingly answered reports that he had already reached terms with the Oakland Raiders.

Although not detailing specifics in the tweet, Lynch’s denial came after a first wave of social media posts contradicting the initial reports, including Lynch’s former teammate and NFL Network analyst Michael Robinson.

Also according to NFL Network’s Michael Silver, who broke the earlier report, the Seattle Seahawks were “caught off guard” by the news of a deal between their former star and the AFC West club. Later Silver called the story “fluid and evolving”, which seems apt. Whatever is or is not final, Lynch looks poised to join the Raiders at some point in the near future. Despite the fervency of his denial tweet, Lynch evidently enjoyed teasing the signing less than 24 hours earlier, amid buzz that the transaction was imminent.

According to reports last week, and John Schneider’s and Pete Carroll’s own comments during the owners meetings, Seattle is not unprepared for the situation in the event of a deal between the two sides, or a request for reinstatement by Lynch. Most familiar with the developing story expect an amicable trade of a late-round draft pick.

Lynch is a businessman and a showman, whose return has at least as much as to do with boosting his Beast Mode brand as it does with “desire” or other frequent sports-projected passions, so however he milks the drama over his reentry to the NFL probably suits his interest. There’s nothing like generating peak demand right before withholding comment from reporters for six months to keep them thirsty.