The Seattle Seahawks and Marshawn Lynch could be headed for a split in the future with the trade or release of the running back in 2015 after the playoffs and if that happens for Pete Carroll, the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots all could be interested in acquiring him.
Lynch's exit with the Seahawks has been written about since last summer when he held out ahead of the season and once the team exits the playoffs, it could start the process for Lynch leaving Seattle. According to Peter King at the MMQB, the Seahawks are likely to part ways with Lynch before the 2015 season, as he has a decent cap hit moving forward and with deals to come for Russell Wilson and other players, the Seahawks will have to start making tough financial decisions.
Lynch took a pay bump this year over money in the future and King writes that the running back realized the money ahead likely would not come, as the team could cut him after the season. Lynch is 28 years old and while he has been very productive in his Seattle career, he is getting towards the age when running backs break down. Earlier in the season Chris Mortensen wrote a story about the future for Lynch and reported that the Seahawks were "tired" of his antics off the field and that they likely would part ways after the season.
The report came out after the trade of Percy Harvin and following that move there were some other reports that Lynch was unhappy and becoming a distraction in the locker room. Carroll later came out to deny that, but reports of Lynch refusing to get on a team bus and not joining the team in the locker room at halftime during a game also came out and had to be dealt with. Lynch also has problems with the media and was absent from the White House ceremony and while all those issues are not "that" serious in the grand scheme of things, clearly it has made an impact for the Seahawks.
Pro Football Talk reported before the playoff game against the Packers that Lynch wanted to war gold cleats for the game on Sunday. The news was reported by Jay Glazer of FOX Sports and after the NFL found out about, the league alerted Lynch that based on the rules he could have been ejected from the game. Lynch did not end up wearing gold cleats and the story isn't anything crazy per se, but think about that: star player, before championship game, potential ejection. Most teams do not want that scratching the surface before a playoff game no matter what.
Lynch has been very productive though and even with the Seahawks preparing for his departure with Robert Turbin and Christine Michael, losing him would be tough. Last season Lynch rushed for over 1200 yards and this season he finished with 1306 and he has not been under 1200 yards in any year with the Seahawks. The Seahawks offense has been largely reliant on rushing and losing Lynch would be a big part of that, as he has had at least 280 carries in four straight seasons.
