Why Russell Wilson’s Contract Could Cripple The Seahawks
Back in April, the Seattle Seahawks signed their star QB Russell Wilson to a ground-breaking, 4-year, $131 million dollar deal, making Russell Wilson the highest-paid player in all of football, and in all of football history. Wilson, who has the unique ability to win a game with a rush or pass, is most certainly worthy to have this massive deal, consistently producing remarkable performances which rival those of veteran greats like Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, but Wilson’s monster deal, which could very well lead Seattle to greatness, could also very well cripple the Seahawks.
Russell Wilson’s contract has high reward for the Seahawks, but it also has a high risk which seems to have been ignored by most since the deal was signed. You might ask why a deal which would send an MVP caliber player to the Seahawks could do anything but lead them to the playoffs and beyond, but it’s as simple as this. If Wilson get’s hurt, say he tears an ACL, and he doesn't come back the same player, Seattle will be way over-paying for Wilson and they will have a crippled budget, unable to acquire more than a journeyman QB, which leads me to my next point.
On a Google Sheets, I was able to make a spread sheet of all of the money the Seahawks will pay to their players in 2019. When I added all of the totals of cash from all of the players together, I found that the Hawks will pay a total of $182,300,252 million to their players. Of those $182,300,252 million that the Seahawks will pay to their players, Wilson will be paid 19.16% of it, earning $35 million. The second-highest player on the 2019 Seahawks is set to be Bobby Wagner, who will be paid only 6.26% of the Hawks cash. This shows that Seattle will pay Wilson much, much more than most of the rest of the 2019 Seahawks roster will see in a lifetime in one season. The fact Wilson is eating up 19+% of the Seahawks creates one major problem. It makes it so that the Hawks have almost no roster availability.
Let’s say that Bobby Wagner’s career suddenly ended because of an injury, opening up a vulnerable area of the football field at middle-linebacker for Seattle. Seattle wouldn’t be able to afford more than an average NFL linebacker because they would still have to pay Bobby Wagner the rest of his contract (a total of $6.26 million) and because of Wilson’s massive yearly salary. If the Seahawks had a star other than Wilson with arguably the same destiny for greatness this next season, the Hawks would be in good position to be able to replace key players with stellar replacements if an injury were to occur. If the Seahawks were paying even Tom Brady’s 2019 salary rather than Wilson’s as well as still being able to pay up to $182,300,252 million, Seattle would have availability to pay $21.04 to a middle linebacker. Yes. Wilson will now be paid $20 million more annually than the GOAT himself, Tom Brady. Russell Wilson’s contract may seem crazy, and it very well may be crazy, but Wilson is only 30 years of age and he is in the prime of his career. Russell Wilson’s contract has high reward which could lead the Seahawks to greatness, maybe even a Super Bowl appearance, however, it could also lead the Hawks to a brutal downfall.
