As reported on Wednesday by Adam Schefter of ESPN, Marshawn Lynch announced for the second time in his career (first time after the 2015 season) that he is retiring from the NFL. This time around it feels as if he will keep his word as he turned 33 years old just two days ago.
That will put an end to an 11-year career for Lynch after he was drafted in the first round (12th overall) by the Buffalo Bills back in 2007 out of California. He played for the Bills, Seattle Seahawks, and Oakland Raiders in his career.
Known as "Beast Mode' because of his hard-running ways, Lynch put together quite the impressive career.
Was it impressive enough though to be enshrined in Canton at the Pro Football Hall of Fame though?
Clearly was one of the best while with the Seahawks
The main reason why Lynch could be a future Hall of Famer is for his tenure with the Seahawks. He was traded to Seattle from the Bills in October of 2010, and he would remain on the Seahawks until his first retirement after the 2015 season.
From 2011-2014, Lynch was named a Pro Bowler in all four seasons and was a First Team All-Pro in 2012. In those four years, he ran for a total of 5,357 yards and 48 touchdowns. In all of those years, Lynch ran for at least 1,204 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The team was also very successful in that time making the playoffs in the last three of those seasons.
Seattle won the Super Bowl in the 2013 season and reached the title game again in the 2014 season (where Seattle infamously threw an interception at the one-yard line to cost them the game rather than hand the ball off to Lynch).
Lynch was magnificent during those two Super Bowl runs by the Seahawks. In six playoff games during those two seasons, he ran for 606 yards and five scores.
Career numbers
In 148 career games (135 starts) in the NFL, Lynch carried the ball 2,441 times for 10,379 yards and 84 scores. He also caught 287 passes for 2,214 yards and nine touchdowns. Six times in his career, he ran for over 1,000 yards (the aforementioned four-season stretch with the Seahawks and his first two seasons in the NFL as a member of the Bills).
His 10,379 rushing yards are the 29th-most in NFL history, and his 84 touchdowns on the ground place him 16th in the league's all-time list. According to Pro Football Reference, there are nine running backs who have more career rushing yards than Lynch that are eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame but have not been enshrined as of now (Edgerrin James, Fred Taylor, Corey Dillon, Warrick Dunn, Ricky Watters, Jamal Lewis, Thomas Jones, Tiki Barber, and Eddie George).
As extraordinary as Lynch's prime was, especially from the 2011-2014 seasons with Seattle, he may not have done enough to earn a bust in Canton. That doesn't mean there isn't any hope for him though (voters may take a look at his Super Bowl ring, and the fact that he could have possibly won a second if the Seahawks had decided to run the ball in the following year), but it is far from a sure thing.