Wilson earned monster contract
russell Wilson just got paid, like no NFL player before him. The Seattle Seahawks quarterback will now earn US$157 million in salaries over the next five seasons. Or $31.4 million per, with $107 million of it guaranteed.
Not bad for the sixth quarterback selected in the 2012 NFL draft — in the third round, 75th overall, after Andrew Luck, robert Griffin III, ryan Tannehill, Brandon Weeden and Brock Osweiler.
The Seahawks agreed to terms early Tuesday morning with Wilson on a four-year contract extension (from 2020-23) reportedly worth $140 million. This, after the club pays the 30-year-old the remaining $17 million in salary on his current contract, which expires after 2019.
The quarterback’s agent had given the Seahawks a no-guff deadline of midnight Tuesday on the West Coast, or 3 a.m. edt, for agreeing to terms on a whopper extension. Otherwise, Wilson was prepared to wait until next March to be (a) franchise-tagged for 2020 or (b) traded or (c) hit free agency.
Word of the deal leaked Tuesday shortly before 4 a.m. edt — on Twitter, by Wilson himself. He posted a video of himself, lying next to his wife Ciara, saying, “Hey, Seattle, we got a deal.”
Wilson’s deal — which reportedly also includes a notrade clause — is the most lucrative contract in NFL history on a per-annum basis ($35 million), exceeding the $33.5-million extension Green Bay’s Aaron rodgers inked last August.
And Wilson is worth it. Those who still view him as just a too-short, scrambly, ad lib passer just haven’t been paying nearly close enough attention to his Hall of Fame-calibre production over his first seven NFL seasons. Pick almost any statistical barometer and Wilson sparkles.
yet, inexplicably, Wilson is still seen by too many as some sort of passer-with-asterisks.
early in his career, critics said Seattle’s fabulously talented defence and “Beastmode” running back Marshawn Lynch were mostly responsible for the Seahawks’ mid-decade near-dynasty. Wilson never got his due, despite piloting Seattle to a Super Bowl win in year 2.
But since that shocking finish to Seattle’s 2014 season in Super Bowl XLIX on the worst play call in NFL history — that slant pass at the New england one-yard line, which the Patriots intercepted to avoid defeat with half a minute left — the Seahawks’ defence and offensive line both declined, while Lynch was never again a factor.
yet one player almost single-handedly kept Seattle among the ranks of the NFL’S best teams in 2015 and 2016, and nearly again in 2017.
And he did at an elite level. Not running and passing; mostly just passing.
russell Wilson is an elite passer, period. And barring injury or regression, he’s going to be quarterbacking the Seahawks well into next decade. He has said he hopes to do so for another decade after that, until age 45.
don’t put it past him.