Seahawks GM John Schneider Comments on Marshawn Lynch's Retirement Decision

Retired NFL running back Marshawn Lynch may be only 30 years old, but Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider doesn’t think his team’s former playmaker will be back on the field in 2016.

Schneider appeared on PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio on Wednesday, via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, and implied Lynch will stick with his retirement: “It seems like it. I haven’t seen a lot of guys that are riding camels and stuff. NFL players around the desert, I haven’t seen a lot of that. But he’s been thinking about this for a while, obviously, so I think he’s very much at peace with it.”

Schneider was referring to when Lynch was in Cairo, Egypt, in February for the American Football Without Barriers camp and was seen riding a camel.

Lynch’s retirement came as something of a surprise, as he took to Twitter during Super Bowl 50 to let the football world know he was hanging up the cleats:

Schneider offered a guess as to why the running back walked away when he did, via Florio:

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Marshawn’s one of those guys. He’s his own man, and I think it was just one of those deals where he was, and this is my opinion — this doesn’t come from him. This is just a guy, his running style is just so reckless and he gives it all every time he carries it. So I think at some point that takes a little bit of a toll and he had the injury this year and really, truly it’s been his first big injury. To see him try to come back from that and everything I think that’s probably a little bit of an eye opener as well and that’s not him speaking, that’s my personal opinion.

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Lynch has used that bruising style of football since he entered the league as the Buffalo Bills' first-round draft pick in 2007. He never played fewer than 13 games in any of his first eight seasons in the league, and he played all 16 contests for the Seahawks in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

He also topped the 1,200-yard plateau and scored double-digit touchdowns in four straight seasons from 2011-14 as the primary option in Seattle’s offense. However, he played in only seven games in 2015 and ran for 417 yards and three scores as he battled through injury. Schneider suggested the physical style of running may have caught up to Lynch, and that appeared to be the case in 2015.

The general manager’s comments come after the Seahawks announced they placed Lynch on the reserve/restricted list on May 5, per John Boyle of the team's official website.

Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times noted Lynch hadn’t filled out his retirement papers, but Gregg Bell of the News Tribune pointed out the team put him on the reserve/restricted list before June 1 so it could pay his remaining $5 million this coming season. It could have split that between the next two years if it chose to make that move after June 1.

Seahawks fans holding out hope Lynch will play in 2016 will be disappointed with Schneider’s comments, but the team at least has plenty of depth at the running back spot.

The Seahawks selected C.J. Prosise, Alex Collins and Zac Brooks in this year’s draft to bolster the depth after Lynch’s retirement. Prosise ran for 1,032 yards at Notre Dame last year, Collins ran for 1,577 yards at Arkansas and Brooks was part of the Clemson team that reached the national title game.

Perhaps most importantly, the Seahawks have 22-year-old Thomas Rawls to carry the load after his breakout rookie campaign. He filled in for Lynch last year and notched 830 rushing yards and 5.6 yards per carry, which was the NFL's best.

Much like Lynch, Rawls can absorb contact and bounce right off defenders and is physical enough to fight for tough yardage. Seattle won’t have to change its style of attack with that physicality alongside quarterback Russell Wilson in the backfield, and Rawls also has the speed to burst through holes when available.

Few teams can lose a superstar like Lynch and be so well-positioned to bounce right back the next year. Seattle will be ready to compete for its fifth straight postseason appearance in 2016.