Fans of the Seattle Seahawks are likely elated at the reports that franchise quarterback Russell Wilson signed an extension on Friday morning that should keep the Super Bowl-winning signal-caller with Seattle for the next five seasons. Unfortunately, considering the heft of the deal - $60 million guaranteed, $31 million signing bonus - this puts the Hawks and GM John Schneider in a tough position with some other Seattle players looking for contract upgrades, namely middle linebacker Bobby Wagner, who had this to say after news of Wilson's signing broke...
Can't keep everyone
— Bobby Wagner (@Bwagz54) July 31, 2015
Wagner's words - simple, straightforward, honest - reflect a glaring truth for Schneider and company - locking up Wilson is huge for the franchise and cause for celebration, but it also means difficulty where re-signing Wagner and keeping players like Kam Chancellor and Michael Bennett happy are concerned.
"Good news, bad news for Seattle," said NFL Network senior analyst Mike Mayock. "The good news is obviously you've locked up one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the NFL for the next five years. The downside, Seattle, is welcome to salary cap hell. There is a huge difference between paying your starting quarterback a million bucks and an average of $25 million and it starts to trickle downhill. We mentioned Bobby Wagner, we mentioned the ability to continue signing your high-level players and once a franchise quarterback is signed, it makes it a heck of a lot more difficult to sign other quality players."
Of course, Chancellor and Bennett both remain under contract, Chancellor through 2016 and Bennett through 2017, so there's no real reason for the Hawks to do a deal with them despite their reported unhappiness. But considering Chancellor's integral contributions to the Seattle defensive effort, getting him to training camp and keeping him happy has to be a top priority for the team.
Unfortunately, the Seahawks look to have little room with which to operate after knocking out Wilson's deal and keeping Marshawn Lynch earlier this offseason. While Wilson's deal doesn't kick in until after the 2015 season, Seattle has just $9.371 million in cap space at present, according to OverTheCap.com. Of course, some contracts will come off the books after 2015 at the same time as Wilson's deal kicks in, but there's no doubting that this will make life more stressful for Schneider.
Of course, with Wilson inked, there's always the possibility of the franchise tag for Wanger, as Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports pointed out. While it's something he'd likely prefer not to happen, it still represents an upgrade over his current deal, which is set to pay him $977,427 in 2015. However, the franchise tag value for linebackers is $13.17 million, which without further unforeseen trades or cuts, would put the Hawks over the cap for this season.
In short, Wagner's status with the team now seems to be in question after Wilson's contract. Bennett's contributions are moderate compared to Wagner, Chancellor and Wilson. While the team won't cut ties considering the dead money included in his deal - $12 million for 2015 - it's extremely unlikely his contract gets redone by the team. Chancellor, though, also seems to be facing questions about his long-term future in Seattle. His holdout isn't likely to get him what he wants, and it remains to be seen just how far he's willing to take this impasse.
In the end, the Seahawks and Schneider did what was best for the team by locking up Wilson. What that means for the rest of the quarterback's teammates, both in their own deals and their on-field performance - they're likely very aware that Wilson's big guaranteed figure will impact their own talks with the team - is anyone's guess at this point.
