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Former Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch was notorious during his playing career for not wanting to ever speak or deal with the media. Now, he is a member of the national media.
Amazon Vice President of Global Sports Video Marie Donoghue told sports media columnist Andrew Marchand on the “Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast” on October 12 that Amazon Prime Video has hired Lynch to join its Thursday Night Football pregame show.
Lynch will serve Amazon’s NFL coverage in feature segments, which Amazon is reportedly calling, “‘N Yo’ City.”
His first feature, which is expected to be him playing football with kids from Highland Park in Chicago, where a July 4 shooting took place this year, will appear before Thursday Night Football’s matchup between the Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders on October 13.
Marchand reported Lynch will have a less serious feature the following week, feeding alligators before the New Orleans Saints visit the Arizona Cardinals.
Amazon First Targeted Lynch in January
Despite his famous, “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” routine with media members before the Super Bowl in February 2015, Amazon first identified Lynch as someone it wanted for its NFL coverage in January 2022.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio reported that interest stalled when Lynch was arrested for DUI in August. But it never completely fizzled.
“I think Marshawn wanted to work through some things,” Donoghue said to Marchand and Ourand on their podcast released on October 12. “We were already working with him. We never walked away. We just worked through some things with him and we’re excited. We can’t wait for him to join.”
Florio called Lynch “colorful” and identified him as a person with a “charismatic personality.” From that sense, it’s surprising that Lynch never wanted to appear in front of the media much as a player.
He apparently has no problem with it now.
Lynch Rejoining Richard Sherman on Amazon
Although it doesn’t sound like Lynch will sit at the desk and be part of game analysis at halftime or during the postgame show, the Seahawks running back is still rejoining one of his former teammates on Amazon’s coverage of Thursday Night Football — Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman.
The Seahawks drafted Sherman in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft. That was also Lynch’s first full season in Seattle. The Seahawks traded for Lynch, who started his career with the Buffalo Bills, on October 5, 2010.
Lynch and Sherman played with each other in Seattle from 2011-15. Lynch retired after the 2015 season but returned to the Seahawks in 2019. By then, though, Sherman was playing for the San Francisco 49ers.
During their playing careers, Lynch and Sherman helped the Seahawks make four playoff appearances, win three division titles, capture two NFC Championships and win one Super Bowl title.
Like Lynch, Sherman joining Amazon’s Thursday NFL coverage somewhat contradicted his previously strong convictions. On December 15, 2016, Sherman published a column explaining why he hated Thursday Night Football on The Player’s Tribune.
However, Sherman now has a mainstream NFL media job because of Thursday Night Football.
But Sherman is certainly great at his new job. His postgame rant, where he also mentioned Lynch, while obviously trolling former Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, gained him national attention during Week 5.
“On the final play, you gotta run the ball,” Sherman said. “Again, I wish I had Marshawn [Lynch] up here. Like, one yard. You need 1 yard. Run the ball. Run the ball! All he has to do is run the football.”
All Seahawks fans know why Sherman was so upset during that analysis. But Sherman is getting his request — Lynch will be on the Amazon NFL coverage with him starting in Week 6.
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