Seahawks GM John Schneider hinted during an interview with 710 ESPN Seattle that they may have to get creative with QB Russell Wilson‘s next contract.
According to Schneider “Russell Wilson wants to win championships” and doing so can require some “thinking outside of the box a lot of times.
“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.”
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported a little over a week ago that there have been no contract negotiations between the Seahawks and Wilson.
However, contract talks are expected to pick up in the coming weeks and the expectation is still that Wilson will end up being the highest paid player in league history when all is said and done.
- Rapoport mentions that Aaron Rodgers‘ $22 million annual salary is expected to be the starting point for negotiations.
- The fact that Wilson is already among the winningest quarterbacks in the game is expected to be a big talking point.
Multiple reports have said that Wilson and Colts QB Andrew Luck will both end up as the highest paid players in NFL history, but it will be interesting to see how the Seahawks approach this situation.
There has been talk that they are also prepared to negotiate a new contract with RB Marshawn Lynch and MLB Bobby Wagner will be an unrestricted free agent next year as well.
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.
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If they’re smart, they wait to see if Lynch retires, see how Wilson does, and use that as a starting point. They can always franchise him after this season if he’s still good. I suspect much of his success is because Lynch is so good he tilts the field in their favor, and Wilson sees a lot of 1 on 1 match-ups on his receivers because the opposing defense would rather play 8 men in the box.
Tarvaris Jackson had Marshawn Lynch running behind him in 2011 and it didn’t help him. Plus, one could also easily make the argument that Lynch is the one who is benefitting from Russell’s read option threat.
Russell Wilson is simply good at football. Doesn’t matter who’s running the ball behind him. At least not any more than it would for any other QB.
Jackson sucking doesn’t make Wilson good, all he has to do is not suck at that level to be an improvement. I don’t think Wilson sucks, I think he’s probably slightly above average without Lynch. Slightly above average should not guarantee a contract at the same level of Andrew Luck or Aaron Rodgers. I guarantee if you put $20 million in front of a general manager, and told him you could have Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, or Aaron Rodgers for this money, not one of them picks Wilson. That includes John Schneider.