Marshawn Lynch’s future with the Oakland Raiders was in doubt for much of this offseason, but it’s not anymore following his latest move. Lynch agreed to restructure his contract with the Raiders, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports.
Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch restructured his contract Saturday before his $1M roster bonus was due. Base value in 2018 is now $5.5M — $500K less than before — but he’s practically guaranteed $4.5M of that (instead of $0) … and can earn up to $9.25M total with incentives.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio succinctly sums up exactly what this means for both Lynch and the Raiders. For Lynch, he took a $500,000 pay cut in order to get at least $4.5 million in guaranteed money for 2018. And for the Raiders, they get a $500,00 reduction on Lynch’s cap hit from $5.9 million to $5.4 million, which was a big priority for them this offseason.
Lynch’s decision to agree to the restructuring should all but assure his presence on the Raiders team next season even with the addition of veteran running back Doug Martin. Lynch will likely head into the season as Jon Gruden’s lead back, which was what the latter has publicly proclaimed earlier this offseason.
The 31-year-old started out slowly last season, which was understandable given that he took an entire year off. But he came on strong at the tail-end of his debut campaign in Oakland and had a very promising last five games to the year. He had 434 of his 891 rushing yards during that five-game stretch, reeling off an impressive 5.2 yards per carry.
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