Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Guaranteed money is the hurdle the Seattle Seahawks must clear to sign quarterback Russell Wilson to a long-term contract.
According to NFL Network, Wilson has not turned down any contract offer from the Seahawks, contrary to published reports, and negotiations are ongoing focused on the amount of guaranteed money in the deal.
At least half of the contract’s total value is likely to be guaranteed based on recent deals for quarterbacks.
NFL Network reported Wilson is only guaranteed about $20 million up front in the latest offer from the Seahawks and many of the years on the deal are guaranteed for injury only.
Using the franchise tag to retain Wilson in 2016 and again in 2017 would cost the Seahawks at least $47 million. Wilson’s camp is thought to be pushing for north of $65 million guaranteed.
Wilson can become a free agent at the end of the 2015 season and could bet on himself this season, playing without a long-term deal to take negotiations into February and March 2016.
“Always control what you can control. Never let others nonsense & lack of gratefulness & respect bring you down,” Wilson wrote.
“Doubted me then. Doubt me now. All I know is the #BestIsAhead either way. Sleep if you want to…”
Wilson included in his second tweet a link to a photo on his Instagram page. The photo is from his workouts at the NFL Combine.
The Seahawks might not want Wilson’s numbers to move into the neighborhood of Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers or Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
All Wilson has done is to go from third-round draft pick competing for the quarterback job to the engineer of the Seahawks’ offense and back-to-back trips to the Super Bowl, winning it once.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the team wanted to get through the NFL Draft first before contract talks with Wilson pick up.
“We won’t talk much about it because there’s a lot of stuff — it is such a crucial thing,” Carroll said after the draft. “We are so excited about getting Russell (an extension) and keeping him forever. We want to do all of that.
“He has been an extraordinary player for us and we all recognize that. It’s a big deal. There’s a lot of work to be done. It’s been draft-focused for us on our end, and there’s going to be continuing talks. It’s totally in motion.”
Wilson is coming off another strong season in which he completed 63.1 percent of his passes for 3,475 yards with 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also rushed for 849 yards and six touchdowns.
