Will Marshawn Lynch be back with the Seattle Seahawks next season? Not even Pete Carroll knows the answer, at least for now.
Carroll met with the media on Monday for a final news conference before the Seahawks head into the offseason. He was asked about changes the team may make, and specifically about Lynch’s status.
Lynch, 29, contemplated retirement last offseason before deciding to return. He also battled an abdominal injury that led to him having surgery in November.
“I don’t know how that’s going to go,” Carroll said of Lynch, via the Seattle Times’ Bob Condotta. “I don’t know how any of these guys are going to go right now. Don’t know.”
Carroll said he did not get an indication yet about whether Lynch wants to come back. He also alluded to Lynch’s surgery.
“It depends on how he comes back, and how he works at it, and all that kind of stuff. He had a difficult year physically. He’s never been having to recover from an injury like that, he’s never had to deal with that kind of process.”
The Seahawks head coach did note that he likes his team going into the offseason.
“Really like our team. Yeah, there’s some stuff, there’s always stuff, but I really like our team. I like the balance of it. I like the youth of it. The attitude, the mentality, the toughness, but it needs to be more competitive in a number of spots. So that’s what the draft will do.”
There has long been speculation that the Seahawks might be ready to move on from Lynch, especially after the emergence of Thomas Rawls, who missed the end of the season after breaking his ankle. When Lynch was doing great for the Seahawks, it would have been much more difficult to let him go. But Seattle fans might not be as outraged if he doesn’t return in 2016 based on the disappointing season he had.
Lynch is set to make $9 million in 2016 and $7 million in 2017.
