Russell Wilson Contract (speculation)

rightbench

New member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
863
Reaction score
0
Location
Simi Valley CA
I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about how many NFL teams have been hamstrung by their Quarterbacks wanting 15% of the cap space (20 mil/year). Here's a chart showing some of the QB's in 2013 and their cap hit:

1) Eli Manning $20.8 16.9 %
2) Matt Stafford $20.8 16.9 %
3) Peyton Manning $20 16.2 %
4) Drew Brees $17.4 14.1 %
5) Philip Rivers $17.1 13.9 %

I just wonder if Russell Wilson is smart enough to know that trying to get similar numbers when he gets his first big contract is going to hinder his team more than it will help them.

He seems like the type of guy who would take a lesser deal for the sake of putting the best TEAM together. I know that with money, people can be different, but everything that he has shown points towards him being wise in all areas of his life, not just a great football player.

Consider that from the chart above, Eli, Rivers, and Stafford are all on teams that very well might not make the playoffs. Throw in Flacco and Matt Ryan as QB's who put their teams in rough position after going far into the playoffs last year, and the stats back it up.

Here's to hoping we can work something decent out with Russell that both rewards him for the amazing things he has done and will continue to do, and also allows Pete and John to continue building a championship caliber roster year in and year out.
 

piston bully

New member
Joined
Jan 12, 2011
Messages
78
Reaction score
0
I would be interested if anyone did the research as to If you were to take a somewhat smaller contract to keep the team competitive if the increase endorsement money because of a competitive team would bring in more money than the a team killing initial contract. Most likely nike,papa johns, X-box are not breaking down Ryans door.
 

the ditch

Active member
Joined
Jun 2, 2009
Messages
1,646
Reaction score
0
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I wouldn't be upset at him at all for getting as much money as possible and as much guaranteed money as possible, his career could be over in one play, why should he leave money on the table.

I mean, as a fan I want the team to win the Superbowl every year but I see where the athletes are coming from.
 

twisted_steel2

Active member
Joined
Mar 4, 2007
Messages
6,848
Reaction score
1
Location
Tennessee
Yea, if your QB is sucking up 14%-17% of the team's cap space, they better be the reason the team is winning. Carrying that team on their back. If not..... well you have the Giants.
 

Missing_Clink

New member
Joined
Mar 12, 2012
Messages
3,287
Reaction score
1
By the time Wilson signs his second contract, he will have spent 3 full seasons as the most underpaid player in the NFL. As fans, thinking about hometown discounts for our star players is nice and all but its totally unrealistic, ESPECIALLY in the case of Wilson. Typically, the second contract is the biggest most players will sign in their careers. Wilson is earning the right to be paid top QB money and should sign for everything he can get. The Seahawks will probably happily give him whatever he wants. Plenty of other teams would be willing to do so. Having a young, star QB is the most important thing you need in the NFL.

Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.
 
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Messages
813
Reaction score
23
Missing_Clink":38qiisx9 said:
By the time Wilson signs his second contract, he will have spent 3 full seasons as the most underpaid player in the NFL. As fans, thinking about hometown discounts for our star players is nice and all but its totally unrealistic, ESPECIALLY in the case of Wilson. Typically, the second contract is the biggest most players will sign in their careers. Wilson is earning the right to be paid top QB money and should sign for everything he can get. The Seahawks will probably happily give him whatever he wants. Plenty of other teams would be willing to do so. Having a young, star QB is the most important thing you need in the NFL.

Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.
While this is likely the case, I am beginning to wonder if there aren't some players out there who won't start taking a look at how there is a definite correlation between ultra big contracts and decreasing performance due to being unable to retain other valuable pieces and opt for slightly lesser deals. This is a TEAM game after all.
 

brimsalabim

Active member
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
4,509
Reaction score
3
How much have we paid Flynn and Harvin not to play? Got to pay the men who actually get it done on the field.
 

plyka

New member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Messages
1,342
Reaction score
0
Kobe was right!

The owners (NBA and NFL) are billionaires for a reason --they are quite intelligent, much more so than players. They have created a system where fans side with billionaire owners more than millionaire players who actually play. Russell Wilson is getting a few hundre K per year to play right now. He is without doubt worth 50-75 million PER YEAR to this franchise. The person who writes his check is Paul Allen, one of the richest men on the planet and with more billions than most of this board has hundreds of thousands. Yet the fans want Russell Wilson to take less money "for the team," lol. I wonder why the billionaire owners agreed to this system? Probably because they are billionaires and very intelligent.

Just as a comparison, in a small country like Spain, Real MAdrid PAID almost 150 million dollars just to have the RIGHT to pay 50m per year for a football/soccer player who MAY be in the top 10-15 in the world. 100m Euros they paid Tottenham for Bale --this is just for the right to purchase the player. They also pay him roughly 17m Euros per year AFTER TAXES, so it maybe closer to 35m Euros or around 40-50m dollars per year. The numbers are rough estimates from memory, the exchange rate is .73 Euro to 1.00 Dollar.

I'd say American football is on the same level as World Football or Soccer. Without a salary cap, Russell Wilson would most likely be worth 50-75m per year. Yet fans want him to take 10-15m because the Billionaire owners have lined their own well being with the well being of the team due to the salary cap. I'm not saying fans are wrong, I'm just admiring the billionares.
 

UK_Seahawk

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
4,469
Reaction score
513
Missing_Clink":17hnz5jv said:
Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.

I get the feeling Wilson isnt obsessed by money though. I genuinely think he would care more about winning and making the most of his potential. Dude deserves to get paid but I think he'd take few Superbowl rings over earning multi millions of dollars. This is the guy who whilst earning 600k paid for players (Darren Fells was one iirc) to stay over in LA before camp so they could be more prepared. He's clever enough to know a QB by himself won't win a Championship. Of course the flip side of his intellect is that he may also be able to spot a better opportunity to win elsewhere.
 

Missing_Clink

New member
Joined
Mar 12, 2012
Messages
3,287
Reaction score
1
Chrome_Seahawk":1sskb11h said:
Missing_Clink":1sskb11h said:
By the time Wilson signs his second contract, he will have spent 3 full seasons as the most underpaid player in the NFL. As fans, thinking about hometown discounts for our star players is nice and all but its totally unrealistic, ESPECIALLY in the case of Wilson. Typically, the second contract is the biggest most players will sign in their careers. Wilson is earning the right to be paid top QB money and should sign for everything he can get. The Seahawks will probably happily give him whatever he wants. Plenty of other teams would be willing to do so. Having a young, star QB is the most important thing you need in the NFL.

Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.
While this is likely the case, I am beginning to wonder if there aren't some players out there who won't start taking a look at how there is a definite correlation between ultra big contracts and decreasing performance due to being unable to retain other valuable pieces and opt for slightly lesser deals. This is a TEAM game after all.

It is a team game but its also a career, and you never know when your window to earn money in this career will suddenly close. That is of course why players take what money they can, when they can.

Now, a guy like Wilson will probably have nearly unlimited opportunities to be employed and make great money after football because of his personality. But you never know. I wouldn't count on that as a likely reason for him to take less money on his second NFL contract. His plan may be to make as much money as he can playing football, and then retire to a tropical island with Ashton and never be heard from again.
 
OP
OP
rightbench

rightbench

New member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
863
Reaction score
0
Location
Simi Valley CA
Missing_Clink":2s89dffg said:
By the time Wilson signs his second contract, he will have spent 3 full seasons as the most underpaid player in the NFL. As fans, thinking about hometown discounts for our star players is nice and all but its totally unrealistic, ESPECIALLY in the case of Wilson. Typically, the second contract is the biggest most players will sign in their careers. Wilson is earning the right to be paid top QB money and should sign for everything he can get. The Seahawks will probably happily give him whatever he wants. Plenty of other teams would be willing to do so. Having a young, star QB is the most important thing you need in the NFL.

Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.


You are throwing out exactly the reasoning that was used for giving Romo Stafford Ryan and Flacco giant contracts. We have a good or great quarterback, so let's give them the world at the expense of the team. The whole point I'm making is that this is completely flawed thinking. Until they realize that they're HURTING their team by taking these deals, hamstringing the ability of the TEAM, quarterbacks will continue to sink their proverbial ships.

I think Russell is smart enough to know this. I'm not saying pay him 5 mil a year so we can sign a bunch of other people. I'm saying he won't ask to be the highest paid QB in the league when he sits down to negotiate his deal. I think he'll leave 4 or 5 mil a year (therefore 15 mil/year rather than 20) to mean we can sign a player like Bennett for a year or sign a Maxwell or a KJ to an extension when the time comes.
 
OP
OP
rightbench

rightbench

New member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
863
Reaction score
0
Location
Simi Valley CA
Largent80":2xipkbbx said:
Give him whatever he wants. Period.

Again, this has nothing to do with the team not giving him what he asks. the point is I don't think he'll ASK to be the highest paid QB in the league. I think they will make a deal that allows the Seahawks to continue to build a dynasty.

They'll give him whatever he wants, but it won't be the blockbuster deal that hurts the franchise.
 

Ad Hawk

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
3,185
Reaction score
403
Slightly lower per year with longer contract, like, say, 12mil/per year for 9 years.
 

jblaze

New member
Joined
Aug 30, 2013
Messages
1,201
Reaction score
0
We have gotten a bargain for three years with this guy. It's insane. He gets whatever he can get and he deserves every dollar of it. There's people like Brady who have accepted less for the betterment of the team but then the Patriots didn't even pay Welker to keep him when he certainly deserved it. So just because you take less, doesn't ensure the team or ownership is going to do what you want. It's still their team and they'll do what they want. It's best to just consider this a business and get what you can when you can.

The other side of this is that the players union won't let him take less than he's worth. It affects other players contracts down the line and affects franchise tags, etc if he is top 5. They can't necessarily stop him from signing whatever but they will certainly try to persuade him to consider the collective at that point.

One thing that I think will work out for us is that he doesn't put up gaudy numbers like a Manning or Rodgers who rely heavily on their passing game. He relies on being a PG and also relies on the ground game heavily. This spreads the numbers around between all offensive players (including no true #1 receiver, he throws to 6-7 a game) which should keep the offensive numbers down. That keeps the players and agents leverage down when contract time comes so they can't demand huge money because they're not putting up huge numbers. It's all about production and what it compares to with others of the same position. It also makes it so you're not overly dependent on one player should you need to let him go, you can plug the next guy in and not take a significant hit.

Overall it's just a really smart way of running an organization. RW won't get 20m, I think he'll get somewhere around 12-15m. That's a bargain imo.
 

jdblack

Active member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
491
Reaction score
29
Russell Wilson has dreams and aspirations outside of football, and many of them take money.
 

Thunderhawk

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2009
Messages
682
Reaction score
2
A "home-town discount" in the NFL is an urban legend. These players have a union they are answerable to. Accepting less than what they could legitimately receive sets a precedent that potentially lowers earning power for other players. If the "discount" is greater than 1-3% I promise you Wilson would get flak from the NFLPA and other players.

More about that here: http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/05/kobe-brya ... contracts/

Russ is going to bank and yes he is going to command a big chunk of our cap dollars. The good news is that the "system" we have churns out productive players regardless of draft position / contract. Our cheap players produce like high-priced starters because we have a great coaching staff with brilliant schemes...

Salary cap is a non-issue to me.
 

volsunghawk

New member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
8,860
Reaction score
0
Location
Right outside Richard Sherman's house
Missing_Clink":3t488bqj said:
Will his second contract probably mean we will lose some other valuable players, and not be able to sign star players in FA like we did this year? Probably. But that's the price you pay for having a superstar QB in the NFL. If I were you, I would start bracing myself for the inevitable, rather than holding out unrealistic hope that the hugely underpaid, 3rd-round-pick-turned-MVP-Candidate Wilson will take a hometown discount contract.

Ideally, we should never be significant players in FA. Home-grown talent is ALWAYS better than paying the big 2nd contract to an attractive FA. You benefit from the cheap rookie deals and you get players groomed in your system from day one. Then, you lock up your cornerstone stars to long-term deals and let someone else pay too much for your middle-tier guys (who you are already prepared to replace with your hand-pick draft choices).
 

drdiags

New member
Joined
Mar 1, 2007
Messages
10,682
Reaction score
1
Location
Kent, Washington
His agent is going to push for a pretty good deal when the time comes. Wilson may or may not squeeze every dime out of the team but I am sure in his mind he can justify it with how much more he could do for charity if his financial future was guaranteed. We will see soon enough but I am thinking he will be in the 16-19M/yr range depending on how his year 3 goes. If he continues to perform at the rate of some pretty good QBs historically, you can forget about the 10-15M/yr range, IMO.

Look at his visibility in commercials locally. Or his willingness to consider leveraging his association with the Texas Rangers. He is a good dude but he definitely isn't naïve. I would not be surprised if he and his agents are reasonable in the negotiations, but his agents are going to want to get him a deal they can use to attract other clients so he will need to have a number in his head that he and his agents can compromise to.
 
Top