Marshawn Lynch signs contract extension through 2017 season

The wait is over, and Marshawn Lynch will indeed return to the Seahawks for the 2015 season. After a meeting at the team’s Renton headquarters Tuesday that included Seahawks owner Paul Allen, general manager John Schneider, coach Pete Carroll, Lynch and his agent, Doug Hendrickson of Relativity Sports, Lynch signed a contract extension that, if he plays the life of the deal, would pay him $31 million over three years.

The most important figure in that deal is the $12 million due in 2015, which is fully guaranteed and includes a $7.5 million signing bonus, with the remaining $4.5 coming in the form of base salary. The deal calls for Lynch to make $9 million in 2016 and $10 million in 2017, but it’s very possible that Lynch, who turns 29 in April, could decide to retire before the end of the deal, or that the Seahawks could decide in a year or two that a 30-plus-year-old running back isn’t worth that kind of money.

Lynch had one year left on the four-year extension he signed after the 2011 season, but after holding out at the start of training camp last year, and after numerous reports that he was considering retirement, it was assumed that Lynch would only be coming back in 2015 with a new contract. In fact, both Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider acknowledged multiple times that if Lynch did return in 2015, he would be making more money than the $7 million he was owed under his existing deal.

“He took a lot of time to reflect after the Super Bowl to figure out what he wanted to do, to do some soul searching,” Hendrickson said in a phone interview. “He realized he still had a lot left in him and that he wanted to help the team win another championship.

“He’s excited to be back, and we’re excited the team stepped up and gave him this deal.”

Hendrickson shot down the idea that the Seahawks and Lynch had to mend fences after the Super Bowl ended with Lynch not getting the ball on the 1-yard line.

“There were no issue that he had,” he said. “Everyone had their own thoughts, but as he said after the game, it’s a team sport. There was nothing that needed to be fixed, he just needed to reflect and figure out what he wanted to do.”