By now, you’re probably well-aware of Marshawn Lynch’s no-show at Seahawks training camp. The 28-year-old running back is “on the clock” (so to speak) as it pertains to the shelf life of NFL running backs, and he knows he’s not getting another big pay day. And, while he’s paid well for his position, he just saw two of his teammates — Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman — become two of the highest paid players at their respective positions. Next year, Russell Wilson and linebacker Bobby Wagner stand to earn big pay days as well.
The prevailing thought is that with all that money flying around, combined with no guarantee that he’ll remain with the team beyond this season, Lynch wants some financial reassurance. So far, the Seahawks have not indicated a willingness to budge, and brought in three no-name running backs for the purpose of drills. As Lynch is under contract, he faces hefty fines for each of day training camp he misses. And those fines are about to get quite a bit steeper, as ESPN’s John Clayton points out:
Lynch faces fines of $30,000 for each day he misses. Assuming he skips out Monday and Tuesday, that fine would be up to $180,000.
And if he’s not back in camp Tuesday, the Seahawks could go after 15 percent ($900,000) of his total signing bonus and another 1 percent ($60,000) each day after that, according to Clayton. The cap on what the Seahawks can claim from Lynch’s signing bonus for the entire length of his contract is 25 percent.
Teams have the option of waiving the daily fines, and do so from time to time. But missing preseason games is where it could really start to hurt. Every missed preseason game is punishable by forfeiting a regular season game check. Here’s how the numbers break down, courtesy of KING 5 TV:
- Tuesday: $1,080,000 (fines and signing bonus)
- Aug. 8: $2,292,500 (fines, signing bonus and 1 preseason game check)
- Aug. 15: $2,815,000 (Through 2 preseason games)
- Aug. 22: $3,337,500 (Through 3 preseason games)
- Aug. 29: $3,860,000 (Through 4 preseason games)
- Sept. 3: $4,010,000 (Last day before regular season opener)
Obviously, those figures represent absolute worst-case scenarios, and it’s highly unlikely this situation will come down to that. But Tuesday is when we found out how serious Lynch really is about this whole thing.
