Seahawks Offered Russell Wilson $21M Per Year, Wilson Looking For More Money Upfront

Update:

Ian Rapoport of NFL Media confirms that the Seahawks offered QB Russell Wilson $21 million per year as part of a new contract extension.

However, Rapoport adds that the issue is here is the amount of cash up front and total guarantees, in addition to the debate over what his yearly salary will be.

Sources familiar with the situation tell Rapoport that the Seahawks are offering Wilson less than $20 million cash up front, which is quite a bit off from the $30 million Cam Newton recently received. While Seattle says they’re offering “significant guarantees” in this deal, Rapoport adds that most of the guarantees are simply for injury only.

According to Rapoport, negotiations are ongoing between the two parties and Wilson hasn’t turned down any offer up to this point. Beyond that, Seattle hasn’t taken their offer off the table.

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According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Seahawks have made an extension offer to QB Russell Wilson worth nearly $21 million per season with “significant” guaranteed money, but agent Mark Rogers said his client “wants more.”

It’s known that Wilson feels he deserves to be the highest paid player in the NFL. For him to become that, he would have to surpass Packers QB Aaron Rodgers‘ annual salary of $22 million per year.

Florio wrote last week that it’s unlikely that a deal will be in place between the parties before the start of training camp, given that Wilson desires to be paid as if he were a free agent. Wilson also prefers to have a “considerable portion” of his next contract to be fully guaranteed.

Florio adds that a deal won’t be done until next year, at the earliest and leaves the possibility open that Wilson could be playing for a team other than Seahawks in 2016.

However, Florio doesn’t rule out the possibility that Seattle could use their exclusive franchise tag on Wilson and then seek more than two first-round picks for their quarterback in the event they’re willing to move on from him.

It is worth mentioning that Seattle has the ability to use the franchise tag on Wilson for each of the next two seasons. The exclusive franchise tag will pay Wilson over $25 million in 2016 if negotiations came to that point.

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.

In 2014, 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 will provide more information regarding Wilson’s contract discussions as the news becomes available.