He was just on sports talk radio in NC talking about he's "weighing his options" ...
He's posturing, right?
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/06/08/russell-wilson-seattle-seahawks-contract-nfl/
Three reasons why I think the talks between Wilson and the Seahawks could be in trouble:
- Rodgers is a baseball guy, and it’s clear he loves the prospect of his players maximizing their value on the open market … some day. As does Wilson. I don’t know what Rodgers wants, but I can assume it must be close to making Wilson the highest-paid quarterback in football. This is a little complicated. The highest-paid player in football today, in average compensation, is Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, at $22.0 million. He signed the contract in 2013, when the league’s salary cap was $123 million. Suppose Wilson signed a deal averaging $22 million per. This year the cap is $143.3 million. Rodgers’ deal, in year one, was for 17.8 percent of the Packers’ cap. Wilson’s $22 million average deal, if that’s anything near what he wants, would be for 15.4 percent of the Seahawks’ 2015 cap. I only say that because it’s fair to think Mark Rodgers would be taking into account the fact that teams have $20 million more to spend this year, and the cap is only going to go up.
- Schneider is a football guy, schooled in the Ron Wolf/Ted Thompson way of personnel management. All three understand you don’t win without a quarterback. But Schneider watched Wolf make cold-hearted decisions when needed. He watched Thompson stick with the unproven Aaron Rodgers when the momentarily retired Brett Favre wanted to come back to the Packers in the summer of 2008. Schneider is proud as heck of sticking his neck out for Wilson, but his “we’d love him to be our quarterback but…” statement this spring sounds very much like a man who believes in sticking to the value the team sets for a player, whatever it is.
- This opinion from Mark Rodgers: “Sometimes, the best deal is the deal you don’t do. For me, there would be a greater disappointment in taking a below-market deal than there would be in honoring the fourth year of a contract.” This is not how an agent talks if he’s thinking of taking a hometown-discount deal for his client.
Seattle GM John Schneider (Ted S. Warren/AP)
All I’m trying to do is read tea leaves. I don’t know where this is headed. And Seahawks fans, a lot can happen in two years. But I’d ask you this: What if Wilson wants Aaron Rodgers money now, and a deal doesn’t get done, and what if Wilson in 2015 simply does what he’s done in each of his first three seasons—have a passer rating near 100, make the playoffs and get the team in or close to the Super Bowl? What happens then, when the cap will be at least $30 million higher than it was when Aaron Rodgers signed his deal? Let’s just say I doubt the asking price will be the same next year as it is now. It’ll be higher. So that’s a spur for the Seahawks to get something done this offseason.
I would have liked to get Schneider’s point of view on this. But he declined comment when I reached out Sunday.
Many of you might be wondering why I’m writing about Wilson and not Andrew Luck, who, like Wilson, doesn’t have a new long-term deal either. The difference is, as a first-round pick, Luck can have a fifth year automatically added to the contract at a pre-set number, which the Colts did two months ago. Luck will make $3.4 million this year and $16 million next year, and owner Jim Irsay—who absolutely, categorically, will not let Luck out the door—said earlier this year it’s likely the Colts will get serious on trying to get a long-term deal done with Luck early in 2016. Contracts for players taken after the first round do not have fifth-year options. So for Wilson, it’s either a new deal or some form of free agency in 2016.
I don’t often write about contract stuff, and I’m not convinced in any way that Wilson and the Seahawks are headed for splitsville. But I find it a compelling story, and an important one for the future of the NFC’s flagship franchise today.
You puckers never want us to get a qb
Every QB jacks up once they come here.