Bucs: Tom Brady tried to coax Marshawn Lynch out of retirement

Marshawn Lynch very nearly signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last season thanks to Tom Brady.

Lynch wasn’t shy about his willingness to sign on with a contender late in the season. Back in December, Lynch told Conan O’Brien as much on his late night talk show, even hinting he had a list of teams interested already.

In an interview with ESPN+, Lynch revealed exactly which NFL team he was talking about. “I was specifically speaking to Tom Brady and the Bucs. That’s who I was talking to,” Lynch said.

Lynch last played for the Seattle Seahawks in 2019, and is 35 years old now. He’s found a lucrative second career in acting, so it’s not like he really needs a return to the gridiron.

Buccaneers found their running back even without Marshawn Lynch

The Bucs wound up signing two veteran running backs last season, with Leonard Fournette and LeSean McCoy joining the brigade late in the year. Fournette in particular made an excellent impact in the postseason, coining the nickname ‘Playoff Lenny’, as the former No. 4 overall pick out of LSU rushed for 300 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, and even added 148 receiving yards and a score through the air.

Brady, for one, has a knack for convincing star players to join forces for the sake of one common goal — to win a championship. It’s an NBA mindset, if anything, but it worked last season, as the likes of Fournette, McCoy, Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown all joined Tampa Bay with something to prove. Months later, they all became Super Bowl champions.