Marshawn Lynch's benevolent side left him beloved by Seahawks
One day early in Baldwin's career, while he was still playing on the minimum-salary rookie contract he'd signed as an undrafted free agent, he noticed Lynch strolling through the Seattle Seahawks' locker room with a slick-looking backpack. He told Lynch he liked it and asked where he could get one himself.
To Baldwin's surprise, Lynch took the backpack off, dumped out its contents and said, "Here, you can have it."
"Just as simple and plain as that," Baldwin said. "It didn't matter who you were. If you respected and loved him for him as a person and who he was, he would literally give you his backpack off his back. I thought that was just the epitome of the man that he was.”cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
It's a side of Lynch beyond the ones that most observers know -- the hard-charging running back who helped define an era of Seahawks football; the Skittle-popping, crotch-grabbing character who would either make you crack up or cringe, depending on your sensibilities; and the free-spirited player whose tendency to flout authority made him a handful for team management during his later years in Seattle.
There was also his benevolent side, evident in stories that were either revealed or revisited this week, with the Seahawks set to reunite with Lynch when they play against him and the Oakland Raiders on Sunday in London.
'He was always thinking about other people'
Seahawks defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. was still the team's linebackers coach in 2013 when his father, former heavyweight boxing champion Ken Norton Sr., died following a stroke.
Lynch asked for permission to miss a team meeting that day so he could rush to the airport and see Norton off before he flew back home.nike nfl jerseys cheap china
"He wanted to go sit with Ken and comfort him until he got on the airplane," Lynch's position coach at the time, Sherman Smith, told ESPN. "That's the kind of guy he was. He was always thinking about other people. He left our meeting and went to the airport, and Ken Norton Jr. would tell you how much that meant to him that Marshawn would do that."
