More details have become available on the Seattle Seahawks' signing of Russell Wilson.
Mark Rodgers, Wilson’s agent, got in touch late Thursday night with the Seahawks to say he wanted to get the deal done. Wilson set a hard deadline of Friday morning. The deadline worked but there were tradeoffs.
The Seahawks were willing to go $21.5 million max on a signing bonus and come back with a $10 million option bonus five days after the Super Bowl. Wilson wanted $31 million in signing bonus this year. The Seahawks preserved their payout structure by giving him the $31 million on this year’s salary-cap books, but the payout was $20 million now and $11 million on April 1, 2016.
With a base salary of $700,000 and a $6.2 million proration of signing bonus from now until 2019, Wilson’s cap number this year will be $6.9 million, about $1.9 million over what the Seahawks wanted. The Seahawks were able to sign Wilson for less than Aaron Rodgers' $22 million a year. To make Wilson happier, they gave him a little more than the four-year, $87.4 million deal signed by Ben Roethlisberger earlier this year.
The Wilson contract will make the Seahawks' front office work a little harder to finish a four-year extension with middle linebacker Bobby Wagner. They were hoping to sign Wilson and Wagner to cap numbers totaling $8.5 million. They will have to find a way to shave about $1.9 million to get that done.
The Seahawks came out of the offseason a little healthier than expected. Five players went on the physically unable to perform list. Cornerback Jeremy Lane has a knee and wrist injury that probably will carry his return into the regular season. Safety Earl Thomas is uncertain if he is going to be ready for the opener. He had major shoulder surgery. Wide receiver Paul Richardson is coming off ACL surgery but is ahead of schedule. Cornerback Tharold Simon has a shoulder problem. Safety Dion Bailey has a hamstring injury. Defensive tackle Jesse Williams was on the non-football-illness list returning from cancer. He has made an amazing comeback and is trying to get his body in shape.