Beast Mode — the most physically powerful runner of his era and the media's most reluctant subject.
Marshawn Terrell Lynch was born in Oakland, California in 1986. He was raised by his mother Delisa Lynch in a neighbourhood he has described as formative to his resilience. The Buffalo Bills selected him in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and became the central figure of his Super Bowl championship teams. His 2011 NFC Wild Card run against the New Orleans Saints — a 67-yard touchdown in which he broke nine tackles — generated the loudest crowd noise ever recorded in an NFL stadium, causing a minor seismic reading at a nearby monitoring station. The run was voted the greatest in NFL history. He rushed for over 1,000 yards in five consecutive seasons. He won Super Bowl XLVIII with Seattle. His press conferences — in which he repeatedly answered every question with "I'm just here so I won't get fined" during Super Bowl media week in 2015 — became one of sport's most celebrated individual acts of media resistance. His Beast Mode identity — the style of running, the Skittles he ate on the sideline, the persona — made him a cultural figure beyond football. He retired in 2016 before returning with the Raiders in Oakland for two seasons.
Super Bowl XLVIII
Career Honours
- Super Bowl XLVIII
- Pro Bowl 5x
- First Team All-Pro 3x
- Second Team All-Pro 2x