This is the thing that everyone who thinks Lynch has all the leverage and is trying to screw us over is missing:
If he's tell the league he wants to un-retire, then yes, his salary is back on our books and we're on the hook for a lot of money. Everyone assumes that unless the Raiders agree to a trade, we'll be forced to release him and we get nothing and Marshawn and the Raiders win.
What if we call his bluff? What if we say "OKAY MARSHAWN, WE'LL SEE YOU IN OTAs, MINICAMP, TRAINING CAMP, and PRESEASON... gotta get you ready for the Superbowl run!"
Do you think Marshawn would actually show up and tell the media "I'm just here so I don't get fined." And basically stab a dagger in to all of his former teammates guts by essentially holding the team hostage? What if the team has to start cutting other players in order to pay Beast Mode. He'd start losing respect really quick in the locker room.
More likely he'd hold out, get fined, and unless the Raiders pony up a draft pick or two, eventually give up and quit before he ever played a game for us. Sure, the Hawks would have to deal with some cap flexibility issues, but if they really got low on cap space they still have the option to release him. This is Beast Mode -- I can't see any circumstance where he'd end up suiting up for games.
The Hawks already did him some big favors by A) signing him to an extension before the last year of his current deal, and B) not asking him to repay his signing bonus when he "retired." Out of principle, if I were them I'd play some serious hardball. If the raiders won't pay up, I'd make him pay a lot more than $2.5M of that big ass signing bonus (not sure how that would affect the cap).
There are two likely scenarios:
1) Beast Mode stays retired
2) The Raiders pony up a minimum of a 4th or 5th round pick to take him off of our hands.
If he's tell the league he wants to un-retire, then yes, his salary is back on our books and we're on the hook for a lot of money. Everyone assumes that unless the Raiders agree to a trade, we'll be forced to release him and we get nothing and Marshawn and the Raiders win.
What if we call his bluff? What if we say "OKAY MARSHAWN, WE'LL SEE YOU IN OTAs, MINICAMP, TRAINING CAMP, and PRESEASON... gotta get you ready for the Superbowl run!"
Do you think Marshawn would actually show up and tell the media "I'm just here so I don't get fined." And basically stab a dagger in to all of his former teammates guts by essentially holding the team hostage? What if the team has to start cutting other players in order to pay Beast Mode. He'd start losing respect really quick in the locker room.
More likely he'd hold out, get fined, and unless the Raiders pony up a draft pick or two, eventually give up and quit before he ever played a game for us. Sure, the Hawks would have to deal with some cap flexibility issues, but if they really got low on cap space they still have the option to release him. This is Beast Mode -- I can't see any circumstance where he'd end up suiting up for games.
The Hawks already did him some big favors by A) signing him to an extension before the last year of his current deal, and B) not asking him to repay his signing bonus when he "retired." Out of principle, if I were them I'd play some serious hardball. If the raiders won't pay up, I'd make him pay a lot more than $2.5M of that big ass signing bonus (not sure how that would affect the cap).
There are two likely scenarios:
1) Beast Mode stays retired
2) The Raiders pony up a minimum of a 4th or 5th round pick to take him off of our hands.