Russell Wilson Negotiations Slowing Down?
Former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson has still not reupped with the Seattle Seahawks. This process was described by Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports. La Canfora spent a long time talking about how Wilson and the Seahawks had different impressions of his value. Wilson believes that he deserves to be paid like a top quarterback in the League. The Seahawks believe that he has been the beneficiary of a solid running game and great defense.
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One of things that LaCanfora pointed out was that Wilson will only make 1.5 million dollars in the last year of his rookie deal. That has been the most valuable contract in football over the past three years. Wilson will look to command something closer to $20 million a year or Joe Flacco money. That is $18 million that the Seahawks will have to carve out of their roster.
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The Seahawks would prefer a deal where Wilson gets Andy Dalton or Colin Kaepernick money. La Canfora noted that would result in Wilson getting something like the 11 million dollar bonus handed out to Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman.
The problem is that Wilson is not Andy Dalton or Colin Kaepernick. Dalton and Kaepernick were taken after the first round like Wilson, but Wilson has been to two Super Bowls. Kaepernick has been to one, but the 49ers did not win that one. Losing a franchise quarterback is a terrible idea. Ultimately I think Wilson will sign for something between the Kaepernick and Flacco deals.
If Wilson does hold out for Flacco money, and the Seahawks ultimately acquiesce, then have we seen the best of the Seattle Seahawks?
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I ask this question because teams normally commit a good chunk of their salary cap to the quarterback position. Flacco is getting something like twenty million per year at the higher end of that scale. The Ravens have to sign the rest of that roster around that money.
For the past two years, the Seahawks have been committing a bare minimum to the quarterback position. Wilson has been playing on his tiny rookie deal, and the Seahawks cut Matt Flynn two years ago. Flynn, if you remember, was supposed to be the overpriced quarterback of the future based off of spelling Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
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The Seahawks clearly used that cap room to build the defense into the force it now is. It is not just good, but it is deep. If Wilson’s market correction eats up say 15 million in cap space, then that money has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is existing contracts. Which would seem to indicate that the depth of Seattle’s defense would be the logical place that has to suffer.
In some ways it is already happening. Bruce Irvin had a lucrative team option for 2016. Irvin went to social media to vent when the Seahawks declined to pick it up. Why would the Seahawks want to lose a pass rusher? Maybe they need the $7.8 million option to help pay Russell Wilson. In fact the Seahawks may be resigned to losing Irvin all together after drafting Frank Clark in the recent draft.
Wilson’s new deal is going to alter how the Seahawks do business. Seattle could continue to be a good team for years, but they can no longer rely on the bounty that comes with drafting an All-Pro quarterback in the third round of the NFL Draft.