Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor will watch his team’s season opener against the Rams today from afar, but Ian Rapoport of NFL.com suggests that there is potential for a compromise at some point in the near future. Here are a few notes on Chancellor’s situation, and we will update this post as necessary should there be any further developments in this saga today:
- Rapoport tweets that Chancellor wants to earn $9MM in 2016, while the Seahawks have offered to pay him $8.1MM, with no change in his 2015 payout.
- In a separate tweet, Rapoport adds that Chancellor wants the team to waive all of the fines that he has accrued over the course of his holdout. The Seahawks, though, have been unwilling to waive everything at this time. As Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com points out (via Twitter), between salary and bonus money, Chancellor could potentially lose $500,000 just by missing today’s game.
- Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports writes that the best way for Chancellor to get his fines waived would be to allow the Seahawks to facilitate the resolution. League sources indicate that if Chancellor reports to the team and appears to be in good shape, a compromise could be reached in short order. However, although Seattle is open to waiving a substantial portion of the fines that Chancellor has accrued and to shifting some future money into next year’s contract, the team does not plan on dramatically sweetening his deal. After all, Chancellor is already the top-earning strong safety in the game.
- Former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson, who currently works as an NFL Media analyst, says Chancellor wants to be paid for more than just his work as a strong safety. Per Robinson, “[Chancellor] does a lot of (head coach) Pete Carroll‘s dirty work. He talks to players who need talking to because again, Pete doesn’t accentuate the negative.” Robinson also says that Chancellor lines up fellow safety Earl Thomas on every play, which Thomas himself confirmed (via Connor Orr of NFL.com).