The Seahawks made the biggest news of the day this morning when they reached an agreement with Russell Wilson, extending the quarterback’s contract through the 2019 season. Now that Wilson is locked up, linebacker Bobby Wagner is next up for an extension of his own, and head coach Pete Caroll said today that the team is “on it,” hinting it could be done soon, tweets Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times.
For his part, Wagner sounds a little impatient to get a new deal finalized, admitting today that he considered not showing up for camp, tweets Tom Pelissero of USA Today. When asked if he has a deadline for negotiations, Wagner replied, without elaborating, that his deadline is “now.” Following news of Wilson’s agreement this morning, Wagner also tweeted, somewhat ominously, “Can’t keep everyone.”
While we wait to see if the Seahawks work something out with Wagner, let’s round up several more notes on Wilson’s extension and a couple other Seattle players….
- Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link) and Joel Corry of CBSSports.com (all Twitter links) provide several details on Wilson’s new deal. The base salaries on the contract are $700K (2015), $12.34 (2016), $12.6MM (2017), $15.5MM (2018), and $17MM (2019). The $31MM signing bonus and Wilson’s $700K salary for this season are the only fully guaranteed figures in the pact. Nearly $30MM in future salaries are guaranteed for injury only, and those salaries will become fully guaranteed on the fifth day after the start of the waiver period each year.
- Agent Mark Rodgers had a flight scheduled out of Seattle this morning in the event that he and the Seahawks didn’t reach a compromise on Wilson, suggesting today’s deadline was very real, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Rodgers acknowledged that there was a “fairly wide” gap that needed to be closed to get something done with the Seahawks, and said that getting the team to agree to a four-year extension instead of a five-year deal was one key (Twitter links via Pelissero and Condotta).
- Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap takes a closer look at Wilson’s extension, comparing it to some other top quarterback deals. According to Fitzgerald, you could make a strong case that Wilson’s contract is the best in the NFL for a player.
- Kam Chancellor, who didn’t report to camp today for the Seahawks, tweeted out a reference to a bible verse that includes the line, “the worker deserves his wages,” Condotta points out (via Twitter).
- Chancellor is one of two notable Seahawks defenders unhappy with his multiyear contract. The other is defensive end Michael Bennett, who thought until the last minute about holding out as well, tweets Condotta. Bennett is prepared to play this season and won’t let his contract situation become a distraction, but he wants to keep talking to the team about a new deal, per Condotta (Twitter link).
Actually, Wilson is making more than Rodgers. Washington state has ZERO income tax whereas Wisconsin grabs 7.65% of Rodgers’ earnings