Grandpa: Marshawn Lynch would rather retire than keep interviewing

Marshawn Lynch’s grandfather,Leron, says that his grandson would sooner quit the sport of football than talk to the media.

Marshawn Lynch would rather avoid the media than play in the NFL. That is the sentiment being dealt out by the embattled Seattle Seahawks running back’s grandfather, Leron Lynch.

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The elder Lynch, 73, perhaps knows his grandson better than any other relative in terms of his football career.

While Marshawn’s father has been struggling to stay on the legal side of the law, his grandfather has been the dominant male authoritarian figure in his life. In fact, Lynch even took to calling him “Papa.” From buying football equipment, to being supportive of his scholastic endeavors, “papa” was there for most of Marshawn’s 28-year-old run.

His desire to remain withdrawn from the world of media coverage would appear to stem from a few experiences back in high school, according to grandpa Lynch.

“He don’t like all them lights and cameras in his face. He never did. Even in high school. He would make five touchdowns in a game. They would come up to him with the microphones and stuff. But he just don’t want to take no glory for this stuff. I used to tell him all the time, ‘There’s going to come a time when you’ve got to leave all your friends. You’re up here; you’re above them.’ And he would tell me, ‘Ah, Papa, I ain’t up there. I’m just a team player.’”

This story should be not be of surprise to anyone. Lynch’s play on the field has usually made a powerful statement all on its own merit, dating back even to his days with UC Berkley.

While his public speaking skills might need a bit of retooling, his explosiveness has transformed him into one of the NFL’s premier backs, capable of game-breaking runs; such as the one that put the Seahawks up 20-19 on the Green Bay Packers in the 2015 NFC Championship game.

“I don’t even know why people would want to interview him. If he doesn’t talk, he’s just going to give you one word. So who would want to interview somebody that’s not going to talk. So I don’t know why people don’t just back off. The more they want him to talk, the less he’s going to want to talk,” said the elder Lynch.

That is a very valid point. If Marshawn will not provide a reporter with a usable quote of any sort, why would the press even bother trying to elicit a response? Well, it is quite simple actually. Like the younger Lynch, should he not show up to the stadium on Sundays, they would not be doing their job(s).

Yet, grandpa Lynch remains adamant that his grandson will never be a media guy, and that he would sooner leave the game he loves than deal with reporters on a weekly basis.

“I know he’ll quit. If everybody keeps standing in his face like that and makes him talk, he’ll walk away. He loves to play the game, but he’ll walk away. I know he will.”

For the sake of the game, we honestly hope that a guy with 8,695 yards rushing and 71 touchdowns on the ground will stick around for more. He is still young, even for a position as brutal as his.

H/T Yard Barker

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