[Update: Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks have agreed to a four-year, $87.6 million extension, according to Peter King of Sports Illustrated. The deal includes a $31 million signing bonus and $60 million in guaranteed money.]
willingness to make him the league's highest-paid quarterback -- think he's asking for too much.
The difference of opinion isn't just a few bucks. It looks like it's at least tens of millions if not more, according to Danny O'Neil of 710 ESPN Seattle.
Wilson surely doesn't have the persona of a top-dollar diva, but is he really asking for a fair price for his production?
Let's dig in and find out.
Cost-Effective Quarterbacking
Plenty of factors go into an NFL contract -- age, position, talent level, and so on -- but rookie contracts have been instrumental in keeping teams afloat when securing high draft picks or relying on youth. The problem is that, when stars emerge, they're often performing above and beyond their salary until a new deal is in place.
As for Wilson, his base salary in 2015 is set to be just more than $1.5 million, according to Spotrac.com. That would make him just the 29th-highest paid quarterback in 2015. Or put another way, that's an average of $20 million or more.
| Player | Average | T NEP 14 | T NEP 13 | T NEP 12 | Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Rodgers | $22,000,000 | 214.26 | 110.50 | 149.71 | 158.16 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | $21,850,000 | 151.31 | 66.21 | 76.63 | 98.05 |
| Matt Ryan | $20,750,000 | 115.70 | 57.58 | 169.09 | 114.12 |
| Joe Flacco | $20,100,000 | 101.64 | 0.99 | 25.13 | 42.59 |
| Drew Brees | $20,000,000 | 130.37 | 181.78 | 145.69 | 152.61 |
| Russell Wilson | $749,176 | 109.50 | 96.85 | 112.82 | 106.39 |
Wilson stacks up with both $130 million deal) hard to justify -- unless the Seahawks are offering reparations for what Wilson has done while on his rookie contract.