Lynch to miss at least a month with injury

ALAMEDA – The Raiders will be without running back Marshawn Lynch for at least a month and it remains to be seen if he’s played his last down for his hometown team.

Lynch sustained a groin injury in a 27-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in London. Coach Jon Gruden said Tuesday the running back was injured, the severity was not determined, and the Raiders were still gathering information. A team source confirmed an NFL Network report Friday that the news from an MRI was not good and that Lynch would miss considerable time.

It’s conceivable Lynch could go on the injured reserve list, and if that’s the case, the Raiders portion of his career may be over. Lynch, 32, leads the Raiders with 376 yards rushing on 90 carries through five games and is averaging 4.2 yards per carry with three touchdowns.

In the final year of a two-year contract signed after he was acquired from Seattle, Lynch restructured this deal to save the Raiders’ some salary cap space and stands to lose undisclosed incentives which were increased from $2 million to $3.75 million, according to overthecap.com. His salary cap charge this season is $4,453,125.

Lynch had 300 yards rushing through four games, tailing off to 76 yards on 22 attempts in the Raiders’ last two games as they fell behind and were forced to abandon the run. Lynch, who starred in high school at Oakland Tech and in college at Cal, came out of a one-year retirement specifically to play in his hometown before the franchise left for Las Vegas.

Being placed on I.R. would mean a prolonged absence and only two players are allowed to come off injured reserve. Current candidates to return would include defensive tackle Justin Ellis and offensive tackle Donald Penn.