Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor, who is currently holding out for a new contract, was under the impression that he’d be given a new deal once he climbed the ranks to become one of the top safeties in the NFL, a source tells Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. When Chancellor signed his current deal, he sacrificed some upside in exchange for additional security, and now he’s looking to recoup some of those dollars.
Chancellor is in the midst of a four-year, $28MM deal that runs through 2017. As he enters what should be the most productive years of his career, his camp wants to ensure the highest level of compensation. In 2018, he’ll be entering his age-30 season and his payout could be fairly limited at that point. Of course, it’s far from guaranteed that the Seahawks will bend. The Seahawks just paid big bucks to quarterback Russell Wilson and linebacker Bobby Wagner and were forced to cut defensive tackle Tony McDaniel due to financial constraints.
The 27-year-old is a key part of Seattle’s defense and he’s even more critical to the team this year with Earl Thomas potentially sidelined to start the year. There’s also precedent for the Seahawks reworking a deal after running back Marshawn Lynch successfully forced their hand last year.
Chancellor racked up 104 total tackles with seven pass deflections and one interception in 14 regular season games last season. Last season, he graded out as the 20th best safety in the NFL according to the advanced metrics used by Pro Football Focus (sub. req’d). In the year prior, Chancellor came in as the 12th best safety in the NFL.
Actually Zach you are wrong. The Seahawks did not set any precedent with Marshawn Lynch. The Seahawks placed a deal on table prior to training camp to get him a little more money. It was not a rework of the deal. It was Seattle saying hey, we can give you a little more money. He held out for a new deal for a few days, then just took the money that was on the table rather then continue to hold out. Chancellors situation is nothing like the one with Lynch.
There was no precedent set with Lynch. Completely different circumstances. Just wanted to clarify that for you so you can fix it in your story.
Even if Lynch’s holdout didn’t lead to a massive raise, it still resulted in him getting an adjusted contract that gave him more money (just a little more, but more nonetheless). Before that, the Seahawks hadn’t really been willing to make that sort of change for players with more than a year left on their deals. If the team had stuck to that stance and refused to tweak Lynch’s contract at all, it’s possible Chancellor wouldn’t be holding out now — it’s also very possible that he still would be, since their situations are a little different, but I don’t think you can conclude with 100% certainty that Lynch’s raise is irrelevant here.