The Marshawn Lynch rumors need to stop, now

Even if Marshawn Lynch should choose to play again in the NFL, it’s highly unlikely it’ll be with the Seattle Seahawks.

Can we just stop with the Marshawn Lynch nonsense please?

Look, I get it. Fans get emotionally attached to players, and not even just the superstars. When long-snapper Clint Gresham was released in March you would think the sky had fallen, based on fan reaction over social media.

When you’re talking about a mega-stud like Lynch, of course it’s hard to let go. The guy not only produced on the field (at a nearly Hall Of Fame level) but his arrival from Buffalo in that 2010 trade transformed the attitude of the locker room and helped head coach Pete Carroll establish a new culture. No longer were the Seahawks the “Sea Chickens.” They were now the biggest, baddest bullies on the block, and Lynch was the biggest and baddest of them all.

His announcement that he was walking away from the game during this year’s Super Bowl was a surprise to no one, nor would his eventual return be if that’s what he ultimately chooses to do.

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But his days as a Seahawk are over, and that’s exactly how it needs to be.

Even if he announced tomorrow that he intends to return, he won’t do it in Seattle.

The team simply can’t let that happen. And it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you think he can still be a productive force between the white lines.

It has everything to do with the new Seahawks culture.

It’s time for a cleansing. A new beginning. A breath of fresh air as the team enters into the second phase of their championship window. This is Russell Wilson’s team now, and he needs to be free to lead it.

For all of Lynch’s amazing athletic feats, his act had worn thin. Regardless of what you thought of his personality or his approach to the media, it was becoming more of a distraction. He was also the last remaining player who required kid gloves in how he was treated during practice and off season workouts. It the was the right thing to do; for the team to try and preserve him physically for the demands of a long season, but it still created a divide, however minimal it might have been.

This was a pivotal offseason. The core of young stars who are locked up contractually for the next couple seasons are in their physical prime. A massive influx of new, young, cheap talent had to be added to create a layer of quality depth, and a wave of potential stars who would make up the next core moving forward. By all appearances that has a chance to happen, as the Hawks loaded up in the draft and UDFA period with intriguing, high-ceiling players.

And oh yeah….. at least four of them play running back, including 3 through the draft.

How would it go over if Carroll and GM John Schneider just allowed Lynch to waltz back into the locker room and announce his presence with authority? What would this do to the development of C.J. Prosise, Alex Collins and the other young runners? And how would this affect the Wilson-led chemistry built up through hours of Spring practice sessions trying to build camaraderie and personality?

There comes a time when a team has to let certain players move on, no matter how successful they were in the past. Sometimes it’s because the player has lost a step, but in other cases it’s grounded in more psychological aspects.

This is one of those times.

Next: Offensive line already unsettled

Say goodbye to Marshawn. Get whatever closure you need. He won’t be running out of that tunnel in Seahawk blue anymore, at least until it’s time to induct him into the Ring Of Honor.