Did Seahawks GM insinuate letting Russell Wilson leave is an option?

[cruzg24]

The thought was that once Russell Wilson could sign a huge contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks, he would.

Wilson has a 98.6 quarterback rating in three seasons. Seattle has won a Super Bowl with Wilson and only an incredible fourth quarter and New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler's great interception kept the Seahawks from winning a second.

Yet there's always been at least some question if Wilson is that good. The Seahawks have a great defense. Marshawn Lynch is the focus of the offense. And giving Wilson that massive contract would change the structure of the Seahawks, because he'd go from making one of the lowest salaries among starting quarterbacks to one of the highest. Seattle won in large part the past few years because its quarterback was cheap and they could use the excess money on other impact players. Wilson, a third-round pick in 2012, wasn't able to sign an extension until after his third season, per the collective-bargaining agreement.

But now the bill was due ... right?

An extension hasn't been signed yet and Seahawks general manager John Schneider had some odd comments to KIRO Radio in Seattle that made it sound like it's possible that Seattle won't give Wilson that deal. Here's what he said, via MyNorthwest.com and ESPN 710 Seattle:

"What I can tell you is that this is the ultimate team sport, we have a track record of rewarding our players that we recognize as core players," Schneider said. "We're going into our sixth draft now I can't believe that; we've been here for a while now but just that track record of being able to make those tough decisions. Every negotiation is unique in and of itself and this is no different. Ultimate team sport, he's our quarterback, we'd love him to be our quarterback. But the thing is, we need to keep as many of these guys together as we possibly can."
Tough decisions? Hmmm. To double down on the weirdness, Schneider mentioned having to make tough salary cap decisions in the past.

"I think you've seen over the last several years now a philosophy of competition at every position and trying to acquire as many players as you possibly can and to make it fit," Schneider said. "We've done this since Day 1. When we got here we had to make some very tough cap decisions with Cory Redding and Nate Burleson. They were two guys that we had a lot of respect for, but where we were on our cap at the time, we had to make decisions. And then we had a couple years without a cap and now we're back in a world with a salary cap and we need to be cognizant of that."
Let's be clear that Schneider's words are likely nothing more than your typical negotiating ploy (like, say, mentioning that you'd like to play baseball too). It's practically impossible to imagine the Seahawks not locking Wilson up to a contract extension that everyone figures he will get.

NFL teams don't let quarterbacks walk in their prime. The Chicago Bears, even though everyone who looked critically could tell Jay Cutler was an average starting NFL quarterback, still gave him one of the NFL's biggest contracts because that's just what NFL teams do. There's rarely any critical thinking when it comes to the quarterback position and its cost in regards to the cap. And even though the Seahawks are progressive, it would still be almost unprecedented if they didn't retain Wilson, who is entering the last year of his deal.

Wilson has been a highly productive and successful quarterback, and his arrival transformed the Seahawks into champions for the first time. He's just 26 years old. Realistically the Seahawks aren't going to let him go over salary-cap concerns. But it would be a heck of an interesting story if they did.

Source: yahoo.com

 

[BwareDWare94]

Russell Wilson is beyond disposable before you pay him gratuitous amounts of money. He's very, very overrated. They'd have to move forward without him and Lynch, eventually, but if any team is set up to not pay a mediocre quarterback elite money, it's the Seattle Seahawks. 

Of course, i think Russ shows the kind of quality of character that might make his demands more reasonable. If they can sign a reasonable contract, or an incentive-laden contract, they should. Make him throw more TD passes in order to get paid the max amount of money.

Russell Wilson is not the kind of quarterback you give major guaranteed money to.

 

[elusive]

Russell Wilson is beyond disposable before you pay him gratuitous amounts of money. He's very, very overrated. They'd have to move forward without him and Lynch, eventually, but if any team is set up to not pay a mediocre quarterback elite money, it's the Seattle Seahawks. 

Of course, i think Russ shows the kind of quality of character that might make his demands more reasonable. If they can sign a reasonable contract, or an incentive-laden contract, they should. Make him throw more TD passes in order to get paid the max amount of money.

Russell Wilson is not the kind of quarterback you give major guaranteed money to.

I'll take "Reasons why Bware isn't a GM" for $200, Alex.

 

[BwareDWare94]

Disagree with me all you want, Russell Wilson fails the eye test when it comes to being an elite quarterback. He leaves the pocket without the faintest hint of pressure, is not nearly as polished of a passer as analysts will lead you to believe, and quite frankly is not capable of carrying a team for anything longer than very, very short situational instances. He has benefited greatly from the best defense we've seen since the Ravens first Super Bowl team and one of the best backs in the league right now who also happens to be the lone anomaly of durability through major usage in today's RB generation.
 
Let Russ hook up with Jimmy 12-15 times before you even think about paying him more than any other QB. He is simply not worth it. He deserves an incentive-laden contract, not a big guaranteed money contract.
 
I'm not saying that he isn't good, but he most certainly isn't great when compared to the other QBs with gargantuan salaries.

 

[bosoxlover12]

lmao, you act like Seattle has any leverage whatsoever.
 
 
If Russell Wilson hits the open market, he's going to the Eagles. They'll pay him whatever he wants, because they both know how good of a fit they are together. If you think Seattle is going to let that possibility happen, you're stupid. You don't let a franchise QB walk, ever. Look at your Vikings. Daunte Culpepper was a very good QB prior to his injury in 05, and then you traded him. And yes, Culpepper did not ever return to full strength. Im not saying that was a bad move, but the Vikings didn't get another good franchise QB until 2014 with Bridgewater. They had Favre for a few years, but they knew it wasn't a long term solution. They reached for Ponder because they wanted that QB. And now 9 years later, they finally got their guy. 
 
Seattle won't let Wilson walk, because how hard it is to get one of those franchise QBs. You see teams like Buffalo, the Jets, St. Louis, etc and none have a good franchise QB on their roster, and it sets them back. Nobody ever says "Seattle can't win a Super Bowl because Wilson can't lead them there". He has, and almost got them 2 titles in back-to-back seasons. If it ain't broke, why fix it?
 
 
The main contingency is that Seattle knows they have little leverage. Wilson's camp is waiting for Luck to get his extension, so he gets more money. So Seattle has to pay Wilson enough before Luck gets his mega deal, but that's extremely hard to do. 
 
 
You're just literally stupid and naive if you don't think Seattle plans 100% to re-sign Wilson

 

[BwareDWare94]

You and your go-to personal insults. If you could fucking read, it'd make them 10 times funnier because you'd understand the post you're replying to.
 
I never said Seattle would let him walk. I know that they're going to overpay him. You know that they're going to overpay him. The whole world knows it.
 
I'm just trying to say they can play hard ball a little bit if they want to. And Russell Wilson has not "led" the Seahawks anywhere. Marshawn Lynch and that defense has. Russell Wilson is along for the ride. Has he made some big time plays in regular season games? Yes, but I've yet to see him be the reason they won a postseason game. He had so little to do with them beating Denver. TJack could have won that damn game lol.
 
But no, you go ahead and run your mouth after misinterpreting posts. It's a trend and I doubt it ends any time soon. 

 

[cruzg24]

I think the Seahawks are just trying to downplay the contract negotiations, but he will eventually get his money. This is the same team that gave Matt Flynn a big contract and that project didnt end up working. They know how tough it is to have a franchise QB. Now if Wilson is worthy of a top 5 QB contract, that is another debate. He keeps them in a position to win and he makes significant plays every now and then, but I dont put him in that echelon with Brady, Manning, and Rodgers. 
 
But at the same time, he hasnt had a great WR to throw to as well, Harvin being the best hes had. Lets see what he can do with Jimmy Graham.