The Facts: Earlier this week, GM John Schneider said that the team wanted to place Lynch on the reserve/retired list before June 1 in order to take the total cap hit remaining from his signing bonus this year rather than split it over the next two. Schneider proved good to his word on Thursday. The Seahawks announced that they have placed Lynch on the list, which formally removes him from their roster and leaves them with 90 players.
Diehards Line:
When Schneider commented on the team’s plans, he said that Lynch still had not submitted retirement papers with the league and added that the lack of paperwork from Lynch didn’t preclude the team from making the roster move. Lynch was at CenturyLink Field to speak to participants at a job fair after traveling overseas for much of the last two months, so it’s possible the status of the paperwork has changed. HC Pete Carroll said after the draft that Lynch was “committed to retiring” and there hasn’t been any signal from Lynch to contradict that assessment. The Seahawks, who drafted three running backs last week, retain his rights in the event that proves otherwise at some point in the future.