This all started inside a modest apartment in Flint, Mich. That’s where Thomas Rawls’ mom, Deadra Whitley, told the first Marshawn Lynch story.
The first time she met Lynch, she kept reminding herself to keep it together. She hugged him, told herself not to squeeze so tight, then asked for a second hug. She told Lynch he could call her Dee; he refused.
“I’m calling you Momma,” he said.
But that’s not the best part of the story. After the Seahawks signed her son as an undrafted free agent, she kept asking if he’d seen Marshawn.