Marshawn Lynch told friends he plans to retire

Marshawn Lynch retirement rumors have lingered over the past few years, but it appears they may actually come to fruition this time around.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Seattle Seahawks running back “has told people close to him he plans to retire.” Teammates are still trying to change his mind, Schefter reports, but after flirting with the idea in the past two offseasons, now may be the time where Lynch rides off into the sunset.

Lynch, who will turn 30 in April, just finished his 10th NFL season and played in only seven games due to various injuries – mainly an abdominal/sports hernia issue that required surgery. In those seven games, Lynch totaled only 417 yards and three touchdowns on 111 carries. He missed Seattle’s wild card round win over the Minnesota Vikings, but returned in the divisional round against the Carolina Panthers. He put up 20 yards on just six carries in a 31-24 loss.

Prior to his injury-plagued 2015 campaign, Lynch rushed for at least 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns in four straight seasons for Seattle, including 1,590 yards and 11 scores in 2012 and 1,257 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2013, when he helped the Seahawks win their first Super Bowl.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider said in January that Lynch was “leaning toward retirement,” so the whispers will come to no surprise to the team. Since then, “those feelings have only strengthened” for Lynch, according to Schefter.

Thomas Rawls, an undrafted rookie out of Central Michigan, filled in admirably with Lynch sidelined for much of the season, rushing for 830 yards and four scores on 5.6 yards per carry. Rawls would presumably assume the team’s starting running back role if Lynch does indeed retire.

If Lynch returns, he would cost $11.5 million against the team’s salary cap for the 2016 season.