Seahawks in talks to extend Marshawn Lynch’s contract

GLENDALE, Ariz. - The Seahawks would like to extend the contract of running back Marshawn Lynch, a team source confirmed Sunday. But two sources also indicated that talks are not as far as along as reported in an NFL.com story published Sunday. That report said the Seahawks hope to sign Lynch to a contract that would keep him with the team “for years to come” and already have offered a contract worth more than $10 million for he 2015 season. But other sources said the team and Lynch have yet to talk specifics and noted that nothing would be completed until after the new NFL league year begins March 10. Still, that the team appears ready to make an offer to keep Lynch beyond 2015 is a turnaround from where things appeared to stand with the Seattle running back before the season began. This season marked the third of a four-year contract worth $31 million he signed in 2012. He is due to make a base salary of $5 million in 2014 with a roster bonus of $2 million and a salary-cap number of $8.5 million. With Lynch turning 29 in April, an age at which running backs often begin to decline, conventional wisdom held that the team might release Lynch before the 2015 season, similar to moves the team made after the 2013 season with high-priced veterans such as receiver Sidney Rice and defensive linemen Red Bryant and Chris Clemons. But Lynch played as well as ever in 2014, leading the team with 1,306 yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry - his second-best average since joining the Seahawks in 2010. Sources said Lynch’s success this season has played a factor in the organization now apparently wanting to keep him around past 2015. The thought that the team might consider releasing Lynch after this season played a role in his holdout last summer. Lynch sat out the first week of training camp before deciding to return when the team made some adjustments to his contract to assure him an additional $1.5 million for this season. The team knows Lynch might hold out again next year, wanting more certainty about his future, one reason to sign him to an extension this spring. Extending Lynch would be part of what figures to be a busy offseason for the Seahawks. They also will try to extend the contract of quarterback Russell Wilson, who some think could get as much as $22.5 million per season, and might look to extend middle linebacker Bobby Wagner’s deal. Wilson and Wagner each completed the third season of their four-year rookie contracts this year and are now eligible or an extension.