Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren thinks Russell Wilson would be making a huge mistake to play out the 2015 NFL season under his current contract.
Wilson is set to earn just $1.5 million if he and the Seahawks don’t get a deal done before the start of training camp—a self-imposed deadline. Many have wondered if Seattle has been low-balling the young star quarterback—a notion Holmgren summarily dismissed in a recent appearance on The Erik Kuselias Show on NBC Sports Radio.
“I know this, without going into the numbers,” Holmgren said (h/t Pro Football Talk). “I know the Seahawks have not lowballed Russell Wilson…So I think it’s a fair deal, looking at it from an outsider looking in. I have no skin in the game but I just think — I think he should do this.”
Holmgren also hinted that the offer is likely in the five-year, $100 million range, and said Wilson turning down such an offer “doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Holmgren isn’t off his rocker.
If Wilson does play out the year under his current contract, and if he does suffer an unfortunate injury along the way, then he’ll undoubtedly lose out big time when it’s time to sit back down at the negotiating table next year.
No matter which team he’s speaking with.
Wilson is trying desperately to set a new precedent in the world of NFL contracts. He’s been reportedly trying to get paid like a free agent now, even though he is still under contract for another year. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have that kind of leverage.
The Seahawks technically can keep him under wraps for the next three years without giving him a long-term deal. Though it would be quite expensive by year three, Seattle can use the franchise tag to keep Wilson from signing with any other teams until the year 2018.
Wilson should listen to Holmgren.
He isn’t going to win this fight—not under the current CBA. Players don’t have the kind of power he’s trying to wield, and the Seahawks aren’t going to bat an eye calling him on his bluff.
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