Beast Mode returns home to Oakland

Marshawn Lynch is now officially a member of the Oakland Raiders, which might surprise Seattle fans just as much as making them mad and furious.

The Raiders announced Wednesday they would be finalizing a trade for Lynch with the Seattle Seahawks. This came after Oakland and Lynch agreed to terms on a contract that allows him to come out of retirement and play for his hometown team.

Good thing for Seattle that the Raiders are in the AFC and not the NFC, because what a showdown that would be during the season.
The last thing standing in the way of the trade was Lynch passing a physical for Oakland, which he did Wednesday morning. In exchange for Lynch, there will be a swap of late-round picks in the 2018 NFL draft: Seattle will get Oakland’s fifth-round pick, while the Raiders get the Seahawks’ sixth-round pick.

Marshawn Lynch posted on Twitter right before the final move went down Wednesday morning.
“Yes Lawd 12th man I’m thankful but [expletive] just got REAL I had hella fun in Seattle. But I’m really from Oakland doe like really really really from Oakland doe… town bizzness breath on me,” he tweeted.

Lynch arrived in Oakland on Wednesday to meet with the Raiders after his trip to Haiti. He was in Haiti with his former Seahawks  teammates Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett, helping to build schools and houses. It was kind of funny how he has had all this hype around him going to Oakland, but here he was, still was with two former teammates.

Oakland fans have something to look forward to now with this interesting signing especially with the madness the city has been involved in this off-season. The news the team will be moving to Las Vegas in two years has residents of the city upset and down on themselves, some more than others. All of that depression, I assume, will go away with the signing of the once-dominate running back as he returns home wanting to make an impression.

Lynch’s contract is a two-year deal, with a base salary of $9 million, with a maximum value of $16.5 million, per NFL Network Insider reporter Ian Rapoport. Lynch must formally file papers to unretire.

His move to Oakland finally puts the seal on the conversation over a possible return, and proves how serious he is about playing once again. His last meeting with the Raiders before Wednesday was on April 5 and that is when he first expressed his desire to play for them. He told them he would only come out of retirement to play for his hometown team.

“I think it would be awesome just to have him around,” quarterback Derek Carr told NFL Network reporters. “He’s a great teammate, from everyone that I’ve talked to, from (among) the couple of Seahawks that we’ve had on our team. They love him.”

Not knowing exactly what Beast Mode will provide for the Raiders, the team does know of his history and why he received the name.
That alone gave the Raiders all the reason to sign him and see what he can do.