Seattle Keeps Mum On Whether Marshawn Lynch's Time Is Done
TIM BOOTH, AP Sports Writer
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Marshawn Lynch strolled through the locker room he's called home for most of the past six seasons on Monday followed closely by a pack of cameras.
Whether this was Lynch's final time in the Seattle Seahawks locker room remains to be determined.
"I don't know how that's going to go," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on Monday. "I don't know how any of these guys are going to go right now. I don't know."
The future of Lynch in Seattle is one of the big questions the Seahawks face entering the offseason.
After an injury-filled season where Lynch played in just seven regular-season games, the Seahawks must determine whether it's time to move on or keep "Beast Mode" around for another season at a hefty cost.
All signs point to the marriage ending, especially with Lynch costing $11.5 million against Seattle's salary cap for the 2016 season if he returns.
But no one was willing to go so far as make declarative statements one day after Seattle's season ended in a 31-24 loss to Carolina in the NFC divisional playoff game.
"We'll figure it out. It depends on how he comes back and how he works at it and all that kind of stuff," Carroll said. "He had a difficult year physically."
Lynch was limited to just 111 carries and 417 yards in the regular season because of a hamstring injury early in the season and abdominal surgery in late November that sidelined him for the final seven games of the regular season.
Lynch appeared ready to return for the NFC wild-card game at Minnesota, but backed out of making the trip to Minneapolis on the Friday before the game telling the team he didn't think he could play.
Lynch returned for Sunday's game at Carolina, but was barely a factor in the run game with Seattle quickly falling behind 14-0 and trailing 31-0 at halftime. Lynch had six carries for 20 yards and caught two passes.
While Lynch was out, rookie Thomas Rawls emerged as a potential replacement long term. Rawls led Seattle with 890 yards rushing in the regular season and averaged 5.6 yards per carry before suffering a broken ankle in Week 14 at Baltimore. Rawls said Monday he'll be out of his cast in the next few weeks.
"I let things work out the way that they work out," Rawls said. "Everything is out of my control. What I can control is going out there and preparing, and showing what I can do. Everything thing else is for the guys upstairs."
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