Marshawn Lynch Reveals Shocking Stat About His Physical Running Style in New Video

Running back Marshawn Lynch wasn't much fun to hit for opposing defenders during his NFL career. But the punishment he doled out was also being received.

Lynch unveiled Wednesday during The Art of Ward podcast that the Seattle Seahawks monitored the impact he was taking during games with sensors in his shoulder pads and told him it was equivalent to being in seven car crashes per contest:

In a 2019 study, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Rochester Medical Center studied the impacts of all contact to potential brain injuries. The study used "helmet accelerometers" that "measured linear and rotational acceleration during all practices and games, recording all contact that produced forces of 10 gs or greater. Astronauts on the space shuttle experienced 3 gs during lift-off. Race car drivers feel the effects of 6 gs, and car crashes can produce brief forces of more than 100 gs. The 38 NCAA Division III players experienced nearly 20,000 hits across all practices and games. Of those hits, the median force was around 25 gs, with half of the hits exceeding that amount."

So yes, playing football—especially for a position like running back, where elite players are generally getting 15-30 touches per game and getting hit on most of them, plus the impact from any blocking assignments—is basically a series of small car crashes. Lynch, at least, was more Hummer than Fiat.