Most of the NFL's high-profile holdouts have been settled. Vernon Davis came to 49ers camp, and Andre Johnson reported to the Texans. Jamaal Charles threatened a holdout and the Chiefs scrambled to get him a pay raise.
The only high-profile holdout left, with all apologies to 49ers guard Alex Boone, is Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch. And that one might not be settled anytime soon.
Anything is possible with Lynch. He's tough to predict, because nobody seems to know him all that well. He announced his holdout by calling Seahawks teammate Michael Robinson during a commerical break during Robinson's appearance on NFL Network, which was about the most Marshawn Lynch way of announcing big news like that. Lynch could show up at any time and play, call in his retirement or anything in between and nobody should be surprised.
But if Lynch has dug in on getting a pay raise before he reports, it could get interesting.
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Charles' holdout threat was handled right away with a two-year contract extension from the Chiefs. But Charles had clearly outplayed his contract that he signed in 2010, and he's by far the Chiefs' most important player.
Lynch is two years into a four-year, $30 million deal, and his $5 million base salary is sixth among running backs, according to Spotrac. Lynch's 1,257 rushing yards were sixth in the NFL last season. Lynch, coming off helping the Seahawks win their first Super Bowl, might be underpaid but not by much. And the difference between the Chiefs and Seahawks is that Seattle is well stocked behind Lynch. Christine Michael has received rave reviews heading into his second year, and 2012 fourth-round pick Robert Turbin has played a lot the last two years as well. While Lynch is a great back, the Seahawks don't want to set a precedent for players who are considering a holdout, especially when they have reason to believe they could survive without him for a while.
The consensus seems to be that the Seahawks aren't going to give in, from former NFL agent Andrew Brandt, ESPN's John Clayton (via the Seattle Times' Bob Condotta) and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:
The Seahawks clearly want "Beast Mode" in camp, considering they've built their offense mostly around him the past two years. But they might not be desperate to give him a big pay bump, not with Michael impressing and quarterback Russell Wilson likely taking on a bigger part of the offense in his third year.
Seattle can afford to wait out Lynch on this one. Lynch doesn't seem to have a good chance of winning this battle. Most of the time holdouts don't get past Week 1 of the regular season, and missing training camp wouldn't be the worst thing for Lynch's legs. But with Lynch, who knows what his next step will be.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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