The Seattle Seahawks and Russell Wilson agree to a new extension and reports have no baseball clause in the contract and this comes as Earl Thomas has returned to training camp for the team after an injury, while safety Kam Chancellor is continuing his holdout in hopes for a new deal.
The Seahawks and Wilson agreed on a four year extension with $87 million and that makes Wilson the second highest paid player in the league per year. According to Andrew Brandt at ESPN, the contract for Wilson does not have a baseball clause preventing him from playing the sport. Wilson has long said that he loves baseball and while he could play two sports, it's very unlikely that he will do that. Field Yates reported earlier in the week that Earl Thomas has been taken off the PUP list.
Thomas started off camp on the sidelines after suffering a shoulder injury in the playoffs last season. Now that he is off the list, it's much more likely that he will be healthy for Week 1 of the season. Thomas and his status were up in the air after being placed ion the PUP list to start camp and now Thomas could be on the field to open the season for Seattle. Kam Chancellor is not on the field now and the Seattle Times reports that he is continuing his contract holdout while looking for a new deal.
The Seattle Seahawks and Russell Wilson had been talking about a contract extension this offseason and if the sides didn't work out a deal by training camp, the quarterback could cut negotiations off until after the season. The team did not want that and they chose to make a deal with Wilson long term over letting him possibly leave at some point.
The Seahawks and Wilson had been going back and forth and reports had the quarterback looking for a deal over $100 million. According to Pro Football Talk, Wilson said being the highest paid player in the league was not important to him and now he comes in with an average salary of over $20 million per season with "significant guaranteed money" coming to him now. Wilson has had fast success in the NFL, going to the playoffs in all three seasons, appearing in two Super Bowl games and winning one.
Earlier in the offseason, according to NFL.com, Ian Rapoport reported that the Seahawks offered Wilson a contract that would pay him less than $20 million guaranteed. Rapoport wrote that Wilson was looking for what Cam Newton got on his deal, which had $30 million up front and he bested that number with a $31 million bonus. Wilson comes in after throwing for 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season with 3475 yards and a 63.1 completion percentage.
Wilson has not missed a game in his NFL career and he has increased his passing yards and rushing yards in each of the last three seasons. Wilson had 849 rushing yards and six touchdowns last season and he has decreased his interceptions in each of the last three years. Wilson is getting paid just over $1 million this season.
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