Marshawn Lynch: Seahawks Ink Star RB to Multi-Year Contract

The Seattle Seahawks are committed to the one they call “Beast Mode.”

Marshawn Lynch and the Seahawks have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, as first reported by Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times:

"

#Seahawks announce they have signed Marshawn Lynch to a multi-year contract.

— Danny O'Neil (@dannyoneil) March 5, 2012"

Jay Glazer of Fox Sports provides us with the specifics of the new contract:

"

Marshawn Lynch agrees to 4 yr deal for 31 million w 17 million guaranteed to avoid having Franchise tag placed on him

— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) March 5, 2012"

With the deadline to place a franchise tag on players coming Monday, the team was ready to designate Lynch if a deal was not made. Now he will be a Seahawk for the foreseeable future, and GM John Scheider sounds very excited about it (via seahawks.com):

"

We are excited to keep Marshawn as an important part of what we are building. This is what we were hoping for when we acquired him from Buffalo.

"

The 25-year-old Lynch was at a career crossroads in October of 2010 when he was all but given away by the Buffalo Bills. He couldn’t shake the injury bug, and his production was never what the team expected when they drafted him with the 12th pick in the 2007 draft.

Once he went to Seattle, everything changed.

He had one of the most memorable runs in postseason history in the 2011 playoffs against the New Orleans Saints and is coming off a regular season where he played in 15 games and set all kinds of personal bests.

He had career-highs in yards (1,204) and touchdowns (13) while becoming the team’s first 1,000-yard rusher since 2005 when Shaun Alexander achieved the mark. His run of scoring a TD in 11 straight games broke a club record as well.

Lynch really came on strong at the end of the season, reaching the 100-yard mark in six of the final nine games of the season, propelling the team to a 5-3 finish.

Lynch made the NFC Pro Bowl roster as an injury replacement and ended up registering a team-best 43 yards on eight carries.

This is the first major contract given out this offseason, but it certainly won’t be the last.

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