Marshawn Lynch took some time to agree on contract terms with the Raiders. The Oakland native formally joined the Silver and Black a day before the NFL draft, which served as a soft deadline for his commitment to unretire and join his hometown team.
The Raiders have been pleasantly surprised by Lynch since acquiring his rights from Seattle on April 26, starting with unbridled enthusiasm upon signing his new contract.
He reported to the Raiders offseason program in tremendous shape despite being out of football in 2016, and has been a full participant in workouts he was apathetic towards in Seattle. Lynch has also fit right in to the Raiders locker room culture since joining the club.
"He has been great," Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Thursday in an interview with 95.7-The Game. "He has been great in meetings. He has been great on the field. He's going well in terms of his physical progress. He's doing quite nicely and we think he's going to be a great help on the field.
"Off the field, he has meshed very well with the team and is already entrenched as one of the guys. It's going well with him."
While it took some time to navigate a complex acquisition process, McKenzie said it went relatively smooth.
"Prior to getting him, I had no setbacks thinking he was not going to be able to get here," McKenzie said. "My communication with Seattle and Marshawn's people was great. Everyone indicated that he wanted to play. That's all we needed to know. The fact he wanted to be a Raider was icing on the cake. We went through the process and got it done. He's excited, and so are we."
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The Raiders now have a deep running back group. Lynch's physical rushing style is the focal point of an attack that also features smaller, elusive rushers Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington. Those guys will run behind a productive offensive line considered among the NFL's best.
