Draft may be deadline to add Lynch
The Raiders are still in wait mode when it comes to “Beast Mode.”
Retired running back Marshawn Lynch is still negotiating with Oakland, and general manager Reggie McKenzie said Friday that he would prefer to get the deal done by the time the draft begins Thursday.
“At some point, you would like to know,” McKenzie said. “Prior to the draft is that point.”
Lynch, an Oakland native, visited McKenzie and coach Jack Del Rio two weeks ago, and should a contract be worked out, a trade with Seattle for his rights is expected to be a formality.
Del Rio said Friday that Lynch was enthusiastic about joining his mom’s favorite team.
“I think every indication I got is he was excited to play for the Oakland Raiders,” Del Rio said Friday at a predraft news conference.
The hang-up is money in what will be an incentive-heavy deal.
Lynch signed a three-year deal with Seattle in 2015 that would pay him $9 million in 2017 if he came out of retirement. Oakland would like to pay him one-third that, while Lynch is balking at taking less than half, league sources said.
The Raiders would like to add Lynch, but they have never felt any sense of urgency to get this deal done. They could use a bigger back like the 5-foot-11, 215-pound Lynch to go with 5-8 darters Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington, but this also is considered one of the deepest drafts at the running back position in a long time.
And there’s even a chance that McKenzie won’t get a Lynch deal done next week and won’t draft a running back, either.
“Prior to the draft is that point you’d like to know, but our door is open and we’re not shutting” it, McKenzie said. “Who knows after that? I’m not going to say never. The door is still open.”
Free-agent running backs Adrian Peterson, Jamaal Charles and LeGarrette Blount remain on the market.
Lynch would have to file for reinstatement by the NFL once a contract is finalized, and that could happen after the Raiders trade for his rights.
Briefly: McKenzie echoed Derek Carr’s statements, saying “I feel good” about getting the quarterback’s contract extension done before training camp. The two sides agreed to pick up talks again after the draft. … McKenzie said suspended linebacker Aldon Smith is not in the team’s plans right now. “He’s still on the suspension list, so we’re not considering him at this point,” McKenzie said. Smith, who hasn’t played since November 2015 because he violated the league’s substance abuse policy, has had a hard time staying out of the news. On March 9, he was detained at a San Francisco police station for public intoxication, and he gave a regrettable slurred television interview when his handlers didn’t pick him up.