Marshawn Lynch has been around the game he left somewhat prematurely quite a bit this week. First, he took a trip to the Seahawks’ locker room, and last night he took the field in spectacular fashion as his alma mater, California, honored him ahead of their game against Washington.
In both instances there was never a hint that Lynch was considering strapping on a helmet and coming out of retirement. In fact, he’s been pretty clear about the permanence of his retirement. Still, the mere fact he was around the game once again was enough to send some fantasy football owners off the deep end.
https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/795312959731941376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Lynch is still available in the ESPN fantasy player universe, so adding him is at least within the realm of possibility, according to the fantasy football powers that be. But retired players generally stay in the pool for a year or two after they call it quits, just in case they have a change of heart.
The savvy fantasy owner might take note of Lynch’s activity, and make a mental note to keep tabs on a potential comeback, but going so far as to add him is a bit much.
Furthermore, 0.1% might not sound like a lot of movement, but when you consider the amount of people playing fantasy football on ESPN, it’s actually a pretty sizable number. The folks at For The Win even did some general math to calculate just how many people decided to pick Lynch up.
While a 0.1% increase may not sound significant, consider this: About 75 million people play fantasy football every season, and more than 50% of online fantasy players use ESPN, according to an American Express survey.
That means thousands have added Lynch to their fantasy rosters this week in addition to the thousands who already had him.
It may seem like a waste of a roster move to most, but because fantasy football is dumb like that, he might return and swing the playoff results for some leagues, and these ridiculous owners will have gotten in on the ground floor.
