Oakland Raiders: 5 players who must improve
3. Marshawn Lynch
The sizzle attached to Lynch coming out of retirement to sign with the Raiders fizzled pretty quickly last year, as he didn’t even rush for 50 yards in five of the first seven games. By all accounts a vaunted offensive line had a drop-off in performance, and the Raiders fell to 25th in the league in rushing (97.1 yards per game).
A message was sent to Lynch when the Raiders signed Doug Martin, at least in theory. He also reportedly took a bit of a pay cut to stick around, as a practical matter at least. Prior to that, there was speculation Lynch would be cut this offseason.
#Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch restructured his contract Saturday before his $1M roster bonus was due. Base value in 2018 is now $5.5M — $500K less than before — but he’s practically guaranteed $4.5M of that (instead of $0) ... and can earn up to $9.25M total with incentives.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 21, 2018
Lynch did finish last season solidly, with two 100-yard games (95 or more yards three times) over the final five weeks and an average of 4.7 yards per carry over his final seven contests. Going back one more game from that, Lynch had five of his seven rushing touchdowns on the season over his final eight games.
Lynch should still be Oakland’s No. 1 running back. A year to get back into football condition, coupled with that good finish to 2017, puts “Beast Mode” in line for a better 2018 campaign.