Russell Wilson, who is in the final year of his rookie deal, is set to make $1.54 million in 2015. Ideally, the quarterback would make a lot more than that. The issue, however, is that he and the Seahawks aren't (yet) on the same page when it comes to his value. We've heard everything from Wilson wants to be the NFL's highest paid quarterback and he wants to be in Seattle for a "really, really long time," to he "would definitely consider" playing both football and baseball in the future.
As it stands, the NFL's top-earning quarterbacks, on average, are Aaron Rodgers ($22.0 million), Ben Roethlisberger ($21.85 million), Cam Newton ($20.76 million), Matt Ryan ($20.75 million) and Joe Flacco ($20.1 million).
And then there's this, according to ProFootballTalk: "Word on the NFL grapevine is that the Seahawks have offered (Wilson) a package worth nearly $21 million per year, with significant guaranteed money."
And so far, Wilson hasn't taken it. Which suggests that he's looking for more (and lends credence to the report that he wants to be the league's highest-paid player).
Wilson will remain steadfast at being paid among the highest half dozen or so players at his position, with the kind of massive guaranteed money befitting that position. He'll continue to seek the kind of deal that will hold up over time in a rapidly rising quarterback market, on the heels of the huge new deals for Ben Roethlisberger and Cam Newton, and with Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, Andrew Luck and Drew Breesall nearing the end of their deals, and with Joe Flacco and Aaron Rodgers likely a year away from considerable renegotiations as well.
And the Seahawks, who selected Wilson in the third round and owe him a mere $1.5M this season, will continue to offer him a deal that's structured with the ability to make upwards of $20M a season, but with windows each year that would protect the team and with limited money in terms of signing bonus (along the lines of the $12M or so they handed out to Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman.
So with training camp looming, the two sides still appear to be at an impasse. But as we've written previously, we can't imagine a scenario where Wilson isn't in Seattle for the foreseeable future, even if that means waiting until after the 2015 season to get something done.
Worst case (if you can even call it that): the Seahawks franchise Wilson next spring and he'll have to play on a one-year deal for something north of $22 million. But as La Canfora points out, the Seahawks don't want to be the first team to offer a player a fully guaranteed deal, or even one that's 80 percent guaranteed, which is why there's a good chance Wilson is playing for $1.54 million next season.
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