Lynch says pending Raiders move was catalyst for return
Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch explained why he decided to come out of retirement after taking more than a year off.
Lynch said when he found out the Raiders were moving to Las Vegas following the 2018 season, the Oakland native wanted to play for his hometown team.
"To play in Oakland is a dream come true," the 31-year-old veteran told reporters following Tuesday's organised team activity practice.
"It's always been something, being from Oakland, you want to play at home and have the opportunity. Maybe them staying wouldn't have been so big for me to want to play. Knowing they were leaving, a lot of the kids here won't have an opportunity to see most of their idols growing up in their hometown.
"With me being from here and continuing to be here, gives them an opportunity to see something, they get to somebody that actually did it, from where they're from and for the team they probably idolised."
Lynch, a first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2007, was a Pro Bowler in 2008, but was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010.
The running back was selected to four more Pro Bowls while in Seattle and helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII and return to the championship game a year later. He ran for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2014, but injuries limited him to just seven games in 2015.
He decided to retire following the 2015 season, but said his return to football is "heartfelt" and not something he is doing simply for publicity.
During his colourful four-minute media session, Lynch said Oakland is the place where he was "born and raised and bred; pissing in them hallways and running down those alleyways, I got to do that right here".
Throughout his career Lynch spent offseasons giving back to his hometown and said Tuesday playing in Oakland, which will host the Seahawks in the final preseason game, will allow him more time to perform the same type of community service year-round.
"I’ve got the whole town riding with me," he said. "I’ve got a new Oakland behind me. The reason why we represent where we're from so hard is because we know what the struggle is and how we get down.
"Every home game I get to come to, I'm probably going to be riding with the whole town."