National Post (National Edition)
Seahawks right to empty the vault for Wilson
Rin Toronto
ussell 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, 75 th 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 fouryear contract extension (from 2020-23) reportedly worth $140 million. This, after the club pays the 30-yearold the remaining $17 million in salary on his current contract, which expires after 2019.
The QB’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.” News reports broke about half an hour later.
Wilson’s extension — which reportedly also includes a no-trade clause — is the most lucrative contract in NFL history on a perannum basis ($35 million), exceeding the $33.5-million extension Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers inked last August.
And you know what? By the fast-escalating standard for top-shelf NFL quarterback pay, Wilson is worth it. No matter how much it might handcuff head coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider cap-wise. Wilson is elite. 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, especially since 2015. Pick almost any statistical barometer and Wilson sparkles.
Start with career touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio. Whereas Rodgers last season improved his from 4.01-to-1 to 4.23-to-1, and New England’s Tom Brady saw his fall slightly from 3.05-to-1 to 3.02-to-1, Wilson’s rose from 2.88-to-1 to 3.11-to-1. Wilson thereby has replaced Brady as No. 2 alltime in this category, behind only Rodgers.
What’s more, Wilson has thrown 124 touchdown passes over the past four seasons. That’s 12 more than Rodgers, two more than Philip Rivers of the Los Angeles Chargers and equal to Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. Only Brady, with 125, has thrown more TDS since 2015.
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 misguided, fast 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 gradually 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, before last season’s roster overhaul and success renaissance.
Right, Wilson.
And he did it by passing at an elite level. Not running and passing; mostly just passing, while scrambling for his life much of the time behind dreadful protection until last fall.
Whereas Wilson ran for 849 yards in 2014, he has averaged only 407 over the past three years. Last season five quarterbacks ran for more yards than Wilson’s 376.
Look, Russell Wilson is an elite passer, period. And barring major injury or an unexpected significant 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.
WHAT’S IN THE CARDS?: At his pre-draft news conference, Arizona GM Steve Keim said he, owner Michael Bidwill and head coach Kliff Kingsbury “are not done” deciding what to do with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, a week from Thursday night.
“There are a number of players in my opinion, and our scouts’ opinions, and our coaching staff ’s opinion, that warrant being the first overall selection,” Keim said, per reports.
He added that if the Cards had received calls from teams inquiring about trading up to No. 1, “those are the sorts of things that I’m going to keep private or in-house.”
While there is no consensus in the punditry universe either, speculation is increasing that Arizona will indeed pick perceived top QB prospect Kyler Murray of Oklahoma, then trade QB Josh Rosen — last year’s 10th overall pick.
THE SCHEDULE: The NFL, apparently oblivious to the fact that three Canadian NHL teams face crucial playoff tests Wednesday night, will release the 2019 regular-season schedule Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT.
NFL Network will provide live coverage and analysis. Each team, via social media and its website, will release its schedule at the top of that hour. The league will post all 32 team schedules at that time at that time as well, at Nfl.com.