It’s now official, the Seattle Seahawks made a huge offer to Russell Wilson. The Super Bowl winning quarterback’s huge contract offer is worth $21 million per year, with what is described as “significant guaranteed money.” Now comes the fun part.
Wilson and his agent Mark Rodgers, well, they want more money. As Pro Football Talk reports , Wilson is looking for the type of money that Aaron Rodgers received back in 2013, which is a total of $1 million more per season. Rodgers is currently getting paid $22 million per year, so that huge offer on the table for Wilson is definitely more than fair.
Currently, as Spotrac.com explains , this new offer for Wilson would make him the third-highest paid quarterback in the entire NFL. The only players ahead of him are Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger ($21.85 million per year). To put it as simply as possible, Russell Wilson wants to become the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.
Will the Seahawks end up budging? Well, according to Pete Prisco of CBS Sports , one GM thinks Seattle is crazy enough for going above $20 million.
If Russell Wilson turned down $21 million a season, he’s nuts. Talked with GM who thinks going over $20 million is absurd.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) July 25, 2015
While Wilson led the Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowls, and in my mind is deserving of a huge contract, this is getting a bit crazy. Currently, Wilson is getting paid $1.52 million in 2015 under his rookie contract. How about a huge new offer that jumps you from $1.52 million up to the third-highest paid quarterback in the NFL at $21 million per year?
I guess it’s easy to think like that when you aren’t the one offered the huge contract or the one in Wilson’s spot. While Wilson, who is only 26, has a strong argument for getting a big payday, that’s exactly what he’s getting in this huge offer from Seattle.
While it may seem crazy to a non-NFL player like myself, apparently I’m not the only one. SeattlePI.com explains that former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren is a bit at a loss for words about the situation as well.
“Former Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren believes the team’s contract extension offer to quarterback Russell Wilson is “very fair,” and that the three-year veteran would be making a “huge mistake” by not signing before the 2015 season.”
It’s a huge offer for Wilson, there’s no questioning that. The only question at this point is, will he truly let this deal slip by and head into 2015 set to make just over $1.5 million? Regardless, if Wilson ends up turning down this deal, you can bet that he’s going to be looking for that $22 million number next offseason. Worst of all for Seahawks fans, Wilson may end up looking for that money from another team in the end.
[Image via Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images]