Report Of Huge Gap Between Seahawks & Russell Wilson “Fictitious”

Greg Bell of the News Tribune, citing a league source, reports that the recent report that the Seahawks and QB Russell Wilson are very far a part in contract talks and an agreement is unlikely to be in place before the start of the season is inaccurate.

Bell’s league source is reportedly aware of details about Wilson’s contract negotiations and said that this report is “entirely fictitious.”

According to Bell, contract talks between the two parties got underway following the February 1 Super Bowl and remain a “work in progress.”

Bell mentions that this kind of contract take times to get the specifics in place. However, Bell admits that there’s still a chance that Wilson could play out his rookie contract, but he still believes the objective is to get a deal in place before next year.

The report Bell is referring to comes from Jason Cole of the Bleacher Report, who mentioned that Wilson has his sights set on securing a contract that would pay him in excess of $20 million annually over the course of five years.

However, Seattle reportedly has no plans to offer him anything close to that kind of money. Cole mentions that even if the Seahawks were to use the franchise tag on Wilson in back-to-back years, they would only pay him around $45 – $48 million for three years once you factored in the final year of his rookie contract.

It sounds like Seattle is comfortable using this fact against Wilson in contract talks, which has led Wilson to be come “increasingly frustrated.”

Cole added that it’s “highly unlikely” that the two sides will reach an agreement this offseason, as Seattle appears to be willing to let this situation play out.

It’s worth mentioning that others have reported as much months ago, so this isn’t something out of the blue in regards to Wilson’s contract situation with the Seahawks.

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