On Super Bowl Sunday, Marshawn Lynch took to his Twitter account and posted a picture of a pair of cleats hanging over a telephone line, accompanied by a peace-sign emoji, to seemingly announce his retirement from the National Football League.
With that, the nine-year running back, who is arguably the most violent rusher the NFL has ever seen, is free to embark on other businesses ... not to mention, catch up on one of his most-beloved pastimes — playing video games.
During the summer leading up to the 2015 NFL season, it was announced that Lynch would be a character in Call of Duty: Black Ops III. That was followed with footage of the former Seattle Seahawks running back playing the title, well in advance of its early-November 2015 release, with a couple of regular-Joe gamers in a highly entertaining video that hit the Internet. (They played for three hours!)
Well, upon learning of Beastmode's retirement last week, Treyarch — the developer behind the title — went back into the video game and tweaked a level in tribute to Lynch.
According to Destructoid.com, the 'Combine' level of Call of Duty: Black Ops III has been updated to honor Lynch with the No. 24.
The digits, which reference the jersey number that Lynch wore in the NFL with the Seahawks from 2010 through 2015, are plastered all over the level.
A video uploaded by Chaosxsilencer on YouTube last Friday points out that the No. 24 on the level replaces the '1A', which was all over the 'Combine' stage prior to Treyarch's update.
It's no coincidence that Treyarch selected the 'Combine' level as the scene for the tribute to Lynch, either. After all, the NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is the site each year for college football players to showcase their skills in front of league officials.
Beastmode might appreciate this nod of respect more in a video game than one coming from the NFL, considering how much he loves tapping his thumbs to the latest titles that the industry has to offer.
In addition to being a character in Black Ops III, Lynch is seemingly becoming a regular contributor on Conan O'Brien's nightly talk show during his Clueless Gamer segment, in which the former NFL rusher looks more than comfortable showing the host the ropes when it comes to the latest video games.
Lynch most recently played the rebooted Doom with O'Brien and a couple of Super Bowl 50 players, including the big game's eventual MVP, Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller.
