Marshawn Lynch urged fellow NFL players to take care of their "chicken," a slang term for money, and to that end, he's filed a trademark for the phrase.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s online database, Lynch is listed as the applicant on a trademark for "TAKE CARE OF YO' CHICKEN." The trademark would apply to clothing -- "namely, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hooded sweatshirts, pants, shorts, jackets, hats and caps." Lynch has his own clothing line, Beast Mode Apparel.
The filing date is listed as Jan. 21. That was nine days after Lynch uttered the phrase following the Seattle Seahawks' playoff loss to the Green Bay Packers. When asked if he'll return in 2020, Lynch pivoted to a message for younger NFL players about the importance of taking care of their financial, physical and mental well-being.
Lynch's exact wording was actually "Take care of y'all chicken."
"We'll see what's happening," he said. "But look, I'll say like this, though, right? It's a vulnerable time for a lot of these young dudes, you feel me? They don't be taking care of their chicken right, you feel me? So if they was me or if I had an opportunity to let these little young sahabs know something, I'd say, 'Take care of y'all money, African, cause that s--- don’t last forever.'
"Now I've done been on the other side of retirement and it's good when you get over there and you can do what the f--- you want to, so I'll tell y'all right now while y'all in it, take care of y'all bread so when ya'll done, you go ahead and take care of yourself. So while y'all at it right now, take care of y'all bodies, take care of y'all chicken, take care of y'all mentals. Because we ain't lasting that long. I had a couple players that I played with that they're no longer here no longer. They're no longer. So start taking care of y'all mentals, y'all bodies and y'all chicken so that when y'all ready to walk away, you walk away and you'll be able to do what you want to do."
Lynch is already selling T-shirts and hoodies with the "take care of yo' chicken" and "take care of yo' mentals" phrases.
Beast Mode Apparel sales spiked when Lynch came out of retirement to rejoin the Seahawks in Week 17. Mitch Grossbach, the head of operations and finance for Lynch's Beast Mode business, told ESPN that Beastmodeonline.com generated around $150,000 in sales in less than four days from when the running back's return became official.
In three games with Seattle, Lynch rushed for 67 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries. He had two catches for 25 yards in Seattle's wild-card win over Philadelphia.
Lynch is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after rejoining the Seahawks on a one-year deal that paid him the prorated amount of the league's minimum base salary, which equated to $60,588. That doesn't count what he earned in playoff money -- or what he'll make off of "Take care of yo' chicken."