Seattle Seahawks will have Russell Wilson for 2021 and beyond
What about Wilson’s contract?
The Seahawks incur a $39M cap hit if they move Russell Wilson before June 1. It would be an absolute cap disaster. So for 2021, Russ is set in Seattle.
It’s clear the Seattle Seahawks want to contend with Wilson as their quarterback. That means they must improve their offensive line. The first step is gaining cap space.
That process began last week when Seattle cut defensive end, Carlos Dunlap. Because Dunlap’s 2021 salary wasn’t guaranteed, his departure freed up $14.1M. The Seahawks hope to retain him, but their main goal is to use that money to protect Wilson. Something they haven’t managed to do since he entered the league in 2012.
To make matters more interesting, per Gregg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Seahawks have the right to restructure Wilson’s deal without his consent. Seattle has the contractual right to restructure Wilson’s contract in order to create cap space. One of their biggest needs this offseason is more cap space to help protect Wilson.
According to Bell, Seattle could drop Wilson’s cap number by reducing his salary to $1.075 million (the minimum for players with seven or more years of experience) and shifting the remaining $17.925M into a signing bonus, pro-rated over the life of his contract. Wilson still gets his money, but it’s rarely a good idea to restructure without a player’s buy-in. Especially one who wants more say in decisions.
A restructure all but shuts down any trade rumors for the rest of 2021. It wouldn’t make sense for the Seahawks to reduce Wilson’s cap hit just to ship him off. They would need much more trade compensation to deal Wilson with a base salary of only $1.075 million. Translation: A lower salary means no RW3 trade.
Russell Wilson makes a perfect throw to DK Metcalf for the 54-yard TD! #Seahawks
📺: #NEvsSEA on NBC
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/D3Z0XewhrI pic.twitter.com/n52oK6Y7y7— NFL (@NFL) September 21, 2020