Report: Teams & Agents Concerned About The Idea Of Russell Wilson Signing A Fully Guaranteed Deal

According to Jason Cole of the Bleacher Report, people around the league — both NFL teams and agents — are concerned about the possibility that Seahawks QB Russell Wilson could receive a fully guaranteed contract at some point.

Five sources who spoke to Cole are all wondering what the long-term ramifications would be with this kind of contract in the NFL.

Teams are obviously concerned about the concept that a player has negotiated a guaranteed contract, even though it’s a quarterback and they typically receive the most in terms of guaranteed money. The concern is that this would change the outlook from people around the league, and would likely result in more players asking for larger guarantees.

Meanwhile, agents are reportedly worried that the offer of a guaranteed contract that comes with less in terms of total money would ultimately result in a big discount in terms of Wilson’s real value. Cole mentions that Wilson has led the Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances and could command an annual salary of around $23 million or so in his next deal.

Agents reportedly fear that Wilson could ultimately accept something in the range $14-$15 million per year because of the full guarantees that this offer would include.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported a few days ago that the possibility of Wilson landing a fully guaranteed deal is “very real.”

“According to the people I’ve spoken to, it is not out of the realm of possibility that Russell Wilson will receive the first fully guaranteed contract extension for a quarterback — something that is a rarity in the NFL — not a rarity, it does not happen,” Rapoport said. “It simply does not happen, but in this case it really might happen and (Seahawks general manager) John Schneider has talked about it in the past, an uncoventional type of contract.”

Seahawks GM John Schneider previously said that they may have to take an “outside of the box” approach with Wilson’s contract.

“We will do that with Russell,” Schneider said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “Russell knows there are certain dominoes that have to fall into place. … he knows, he gets it. He wants to win. He wants to win for a long time.”

If Seattle went the route of guaranteeing Wilson’s contract, there’s no question that it would have reciprocal effects around the NFL, particularly in the quarterback market.

Wilson, 26, still has one year remaining on his four-year, $2.198 million rookie contract, which includes a base salary of $798,651 for the 2015 season.

This year, Wilson threw for 3,475 yards while completing 63.1 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also ran for 849 yards and scored six rushing touchdowns over the course of 16 games.

We’ll have more regarding the Seahawks and Wilson as the news is available.