Russell Wilson turned down $21 million a year from the Seahawks, and it suggests he wants a game-changing deal
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Wilson has turned down an offer worth "nearly $21 million per year," according to what Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has heard through the grapevine. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network appeared to confirm the nature of the offer when he called Florio's number "essentially accurate."
In the NFL, only four players have a contract with an average annual value greater than $20.5 million:
- Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers - $22.0 million (five years, $110 million)
- Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers - $21.85 million (four years, $87.4 million)
- Cam Newton, Carolina Panthers - $20.76 million (five years, $103.8 million)
- Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons - $20.75 million (five years, $103.75 million)
Presumably, the Seahawks' most recent offer to Wilson falls somewhere in the neighborhood of Newton and Ryan, but almost certainly in the top five ahead of Joe Flacco, whose deal has an average annual value of $20.1 million.
But this is the NFL, and contracts are never this simple. Just as important as, and possibly more important than, the average annual value is the amount of guaranteed money and the amount of money the player receives up-front. The latter is typically the only "fully guaranteed" portion of an NFL contract, with the rest of the guarantees coming into play only in the event of an injury.
While Florio's report says there is "significant guaranteed money" in the offer, according to Rapoport, the Seahawks' offer to Wilson includes "below $20 million cash up-front," with the rest being injury guarantees.
That is well below the $31 million that Newton received up front or the $30 million that Ryan received up front in fully guaranteed money in the form of first-year salary and bonuses. Rather, the offer appears to be much closer to the $18.1 million in up-front cash the Bengals gave Andy Dalton in his six-year, $96 million deal.
That is nothing to scoff at, but Russell Wilson is not Andy Dalton.
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Peter King of Sports Illustrated takes it a step further and points out that Rodgers signed his deal in 2013, when the NFL salary cap was $123 million and his salary represented 17.9% of the cap. The cap is now $143.3 million, and an equivalent percentage would be a salary of $25.6 million, suggesting Wilson is being lowballed with a $21 million offer.
Wilson has said he wants a deal in place before the start of training camp, which is later this week, or he will play the 2015 season under his current $1.5 million salary. Based on what the Seahawks' most recent offer appears to be, it doesn't look as if a deal will get done.
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