Seattle Seahawks extend Russell Wilson: Grade, reaction and more
Pete Carroll can enjoy a huge sigh of relief this morning. Russell Wilson will be his quarterback for years to come, but did the Seahawks get a good deal?
The Seahawks and Russell Wilson made their fans sweat, but they finally agreed to a massive extension that will keep the franchise quarterback in Seattle for the foreseeable future. Now it’s time to evaluate the deal. It certainly resets the quarterback market, but that doesn’t mean it’s a poor deal from the team’s perspective.
Contract Details
Wilson’s new deal has the potential to pay him as much as $140 million over the next four years. More impressively, his agent managed to secure his star client a $65 million signing bonus. That was definitely a concession from the Seahawks standpoint that helped get this deal done.
National Reaction
The Seahawks and Wilson definitely waited until just before the player’s self-imposed deadline to get things done. No word on whether or not Wilson and his wife were watching Game of Thrones when they chose to break the news of his new contract.
Gotta say, Russell Wilson getting a $140 million contract and announcing it from bed with Sierra laying beside him feels like dunking and hanging on the rim.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 16, 2019
There had been a lot of rumors about Wilson’s desire to leave Seattle, but those seem to be unfounded. His agent, Mark Rodgers, made a concerted effort to make sure Seahawks fans knew that his client wanted to stay put despite the tough negotiating.
Russell Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, on the record-setting agreement that was reached at midnight PST: “At the end of the day, my guy wants to live, work, thrive in Seattle. Loves this town and it’s fans. He compromised to stay here. I respect that.”
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 16, 2019
For the moment, Wilson becomes the highest paid player in the entire NFL. That’s an unusual move for the Seahawks. It’s arguably the franchise’s boldest contract offer since the days of Steve Largent.
Russell Wilson’s contract gives him an average annual value of $35 million a year, making him the highest paid player in the league. It’s the first time the Seahawks have had the highest paid player. Steve Largent was highest paid WR in 1989 ($1.35M or $2.75M in today’s $) pic.twitter.com/J4nyUIJUZ0
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) April 16, 2019
A. . QB. Seattle Seahawks. RUSSELL WILSON
This deal does reset the market for quarterbacks in the league, but it doesn’t blow the old system away. That, in and of itself, is a pretty big win for the Seahawks. Wilson and his representatives certainly came into the negotiations with much higher demands.
This contract is worth it for Seattle because of how much they depend on Wilson’s exceptionalism to power their offense. This is not a franchise that outschemes opponents when they have the ball. The Seahawks move the ball effectively because of Wilson’s ability to throw the ball deep and make big time plays on third down.
Losing Wilson would have rendered the team’s offense wholly ineffective in the short-term. It also would have sent a really negative message to plays considering playing for the Seahawks that the organization isn’t willing to pay top-tier talent. After letting the likes of Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas go, the Seahawks desperately needed to retain a star.
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This is an obvious win for the Seahawks. Wilson’s new deal is expensive, but he’s one of the best players in the NFL at the most important position on the field. It didn’t take a brilliant front office to make this move, but it doesn’t make the decision any less correct.