It's long been presumed that the contract talks between the Seattle Seahawks and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson would ultimately result in a happy, well-paid Wilson and the continuation of what has become a blissful, consistently uber-successful relationship to this point, for the foreseeable future.
Only now, that happy hope may be fading - at least somewhat.
According to a recent report from Danny O'Neil of 710 ESPN Seattle, the talks between Wilson's reps and Seahawks GM John Schneider have not progressed much, if at all, with the two sides now attempting to bridge a gap that is somewhere in the vicinity of "10s of millions."
Per O'Neil's report, the Seahawks won't even come close to making Wilson one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL and have to this point in negotiations have come much closer to recent extensions handed to mid-level signal-callers than to elite ones.
"They're willing to pay him more per year than contemporaries like Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick, but they have not taken the dramatic step of vaulting him into the top tier of veteran quarterbacks in overall compensation."
Both Dalton and Kaepernick signed six-year deals, Dalton's with a total potential worth of $96 million and Kaepernick's with a possible value of $114 million. Of course, it's almost a 100 percent certainty that neither player will see the max value of their deal - Kaepernick's deal especially is tied to roster bonuses that will simply go unpaid if the team chooses to jettison him at some point.
It seems the Seahawks - right now - aren't willing to breach the $100 million mark for Wilson.
"Yeah, that's not happening judging by the opening tenor of negotiations. In fact, the Seahawks haven't put $100 million on the table right now. The offer of a four-year extension is believed to be worth closer to $80 million."
While a $20 million-a-year deal for Wilson sounds mighty good in principle, if it didn't kick in until after 2015, Wilson would be making just over $80 million on a five-year deal - he's currently slated to make $1.5 million this season, the final year of his rookie contract.
In essence, the two sides are suffering somewhat from their own success - Wilson has reached an unprecedented level of achievement already in his short time in the league, appearing in two Super Bowls, winning one and amassing more wins as a starter to begin his career than any other quarterback ever.
Determining a fair value for a player the likes of which the league has never before seen is bound to be difficult.
In the end, O'Neil believes it's more likely than not that a deal gets done and really, if it doesn't, the only other seemingly feasible outcome is that Wilson plays out the remainder of his initial deal and is then franchised by the Seahawks - something the team can do each offseason through 2018.
