Beast Mode Comes Home

RB Lynch returns from retirement to play for hometown Raiders

- Michael Wagaman

Wearing a white Raiders No. 24 jersey and a pair of baggy, black sweat pants, Marshawn Lynch trotted off the field following his first official workout with his new team and into the team’s nearby locker room.

Like in Seattle, Lynch didn’t have anything to say to the throng of reporters gathered to watch him participate in practice for the first time since coming out of retirement, a retirement that most certainly would have been permanent had not his hometown team come calling.

That point was not lost on Lynch or Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio.

While thanking Seattle fans for their support while he was with the Seahawks, Lynch couldn’t contain his excitement about playing for Oakland where he grew up. In his only public comments since the deal went down, Lynch took to Twitter and sounded like a kid in a candy store.

“Yes Lawd 12th man I’m thankful but s!@# 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.”

Two weeks later on Instagram, Lynch posted a video from a block party he threw in Oakland to celebrate his return.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anybody else be more excited or pleased to be joining a team, my team, our team, you know?” Del Rio said. “I told him, I said, ‘You’re lucky, man, because I didn’t get a chance to do that as a player. I wanted to finish here as a player too, I didn’t get that chance. You’re getting that chance.’ He’s fired up about it.”