Marshawn Lynch tells 60 Minutes Sports ‘I’m retired’

Finally, Marshawn Lynch has said publicly what his spikes tweet during the Super Bowl spoke for him months ago.

“I’m done … I’m retired … I’m not playing football anymore.”

That’s what the former Seattle Seahawks cornerstone running back tells 60 Minutes Sports on Showtime in a cable-television feature that begins airing nationally on Tuesday night.

It’s the first time the Seahawks’ star running back has uttered the exact word publicly since he tweeted his hanging-up-the-spikes photo in early February during the Super Bowl.

This should end all the rumors.

Should.

People for months have been speculating that Lynch, 30, may want to play again, if not for Seattle than perhaps his hometown Oakland Raiders. When May arrived and Lynch still hadn’t sent to the Seahawks and the league his official retirement papers, those rumors grew. Almost every time a Seahawks player gave a national interview this spring — such as cornerback Richard Sherman to former Seahawk Michael Robinson of NFL Network — the subject of Lynch possibly returning came up.

When mentioned to him by 60 Minutes Sports that the Raiders need a veteran running back and his return to play for Oakland seems like a perfect storyline, Lynch shook his head and chuckled beneath his “Beast Mode”-brand cap.

“No, I’m done. I’m done,” Lynch told Showtime. “I’ve enjoyed my time. Now it’s time to watch my cousins do their thing.”

Lynch’s Bay Area-based agent, Doug Hendrickson also discussed the Raiders-homecoming idea on Showtime.

“I think if you could write the perfect story as far as the last year of his career, play again, come back to Oakland, it’d make sense, right?” Hendrickson told 60 Minutes Sports.

“But the reality is, look, he told me he’s done.”

Here’s another reality: The Seahawks own Lynch’s playing rights for two more years, through the 2017 season, whether he’s retired or not. That’s the result of the two-year contract extension he signed to get $5 million more guaranteed up front before the 2015 season. It would take him to renege on his word and spikes tweet seen round the world, then Seattle to release or trade the immensely popular foundation upon which it won its only Super Bowl three seasons ago, for him to play for another team.

But that fact didn’t fit neatly into the rumors’ narrative.

So ends — really, truly — Lynch’s decade in the league and 51⁄2-year run in Seattle that will go down as the most successful string of seasons in franchise history. He was the basis for it. Lynch personified head coach Pete Carroll’s physical, punishing style of play predicated on running the ball and dominating games with defense.

Lynch was named to five Pro Bowl teams, in 2008 while with Buffalo then four times after his trade to the Seahawks in October 2010. He was an All-Pro in 2012 when he romped for a career-high 1,590 yards with 11 rushing touchdowns. From 2011 into last season, the first injury-filled one of his career, Lynch was the NFL’s leader in rushing yards and touchdowns.

He is certainly worthy of consideration for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, if not worthy of induction. His credentials are similar to those of Earl Campbell, another punishing runner with the 1970s and ’80 Houston Oilers. Campbell is enshrined in Canton, Ohio.

The biggest difference between Lynch and Campbell: Lynch won four more playoff games including a Super Bowl. That was at the end of the 2013 season, when Lynch and the Seahawks thumped Denver 43-8 to win Seattle’s only NFL title.

Wide receiver Doug Baldwin posted on social media last month hours after his team drafted three running backs that the Seahawks should ensure no one wears Lynch’s number 24 in Seattle “for years to come.” General manager John Schneider said he’s told Lynch no one will wear 24 for the Seahawks in the 2016 regular season.

Lynch’s 6,347 yards rushing for Seattle are fourth-most in franchise history. The three ahead of him — Shaun Alexander (9,429 yards), Chris Warren (6,706) and Curt Warner (6,705) — each played at least two more seasons for the Seahawks than Lynch did. Lynch’s 4.4 yards per carry are the most in franchise history among running backs who played at least five seasons for Seattle. His 57 rushing touchdowns are second in team history to Alexander’s 100.

“Selfishly, yeah, I’d want him to play another year or two, make sure he’s cemented the Hall of Fame,” Hendrickson told 60 Minutes Sports.

Then the agent added: “With Marshawn I’ll never say never, OK?”

That led the show’s interviewer, Jon Wertheim from Sports Illustrated, to press Lynch one more time on if he’ll play again.

“I’m RETIRED,” Lynch said sternly, interrupting a sip through a straw from a Starbucks cup.

“Is that good enough?”

Then he turned to a producer.

“Which camera do you want me to look in to? This one?” Lynch said. “I’m done. I’m not playing football anymore.”