The Seahawks reportedly offered Russell Wilson a contract that would pay the fourth-year quarterback among the top-five signal-callers in the league, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

But the former Wisconsin and North Carolina State standout’s crusade at an evolutionary pact apparently will continue, with Florio pointing out Wilson’s camp declined the offer worth nearly $21MM per year. That figure, which came in an offer containing “significant” guaranteed money, would place the two-time Pro Bowler third among all quarterbacks, with only Aaron Rodgers ($22MM/year) and Ben Roethlisberger ($21.85MM/AAV) exceeding $21MM per year.

Florio notes the Seahawks don’t want to exceed the Rodgers figure.

Just as it’s done with almost all of its key bastions in recent years. Seattle appears to be making the effort to retain its top free agent. But even though Wilson’s statistics don’t place him among the candidates to earn the aforementioned offer, although he surely has the postseason victories to stack up with the bulk of that quarterback tier, agent Mark Rodgers has steered the quarterback into an intense negotiation that has less than a week to be completed, per the Wilson camp’s figurative pre-training camp deadline looming.

Since Wilson’s salary for this season is a paltry $1.5MM, Florio posits the Seahawks can appease the determined quarterback without reaching the Rodgers threshold. Just by triggering a contract to begin immediately, the Seahawks could sign Wilson to a five-year $100MM deal — or a six-year, $120MM deal — with a new money amount that surpasses Rodgers’ deal but not a per-year contract that does.

Former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren claims to have knowledge of the contract terms and would advise Wilson to accept the deal rather than play for $88K per game this season. Holmgren also said Wilson’s contract will be worth $20MM+ per season, while Florio points out Wilson taking this deal now rather than after the season would put him back at the bargaining table sooner when it comes time to negotiate his third contract.

“I know the Seahawks have not lowballed Russell Wilson. Now, is it an Alex Rodriguez contract, which is twice as much as anybody’s ever made in their life? No. But they have not lowballed him,” Holmgren said in an appearance on The Erik Kuselias Show. “So I think it’s a fair deal, looking at it from an outsider looking in. I have no skin in the game, but I just think — I think he should do this.”

Russell Wilson‘s latest reported demand seems to fall in line with some of the other rumored sticking points in his exhaustive negotiations with the Seahawks, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes that the idea of Wilson guiding another team’s offense next season isn’t as ludicrous as it may seem.

Going along with a reported pursuit of a near-fully guaranteed contract or one that eclipses all quarterbacks’ deals, the fourth-year signal-caller wants to be paid like a top free agent right now, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com told Florio during an appearance on PFT Live. This comes after we heard the sides will shelve talks until after the season if a deal is not completed by the time Seattle begins training camp July 30.

With the figurative deadline looming, Wilson’s camp appears to be putting pressure on the Seahawks to reach numbers that aren’t the easiest to conjure up, with the 26-year-old Wilson’s value to his immensely successful team somewhat debatable.

Healthy franchise-caliber quarterbacks no longer reach free agency, but it’s not like Seattle doesn’t have quarterback extension parameters from which to draw figures. There isn’t an immense value gap like the one that vexed the Cowboys and Broncos this offseason in their attempts to find figures between those of Calvin Johnson‘s and Mike Wallace‘s contracts for their top-flight receivers.

With quarterbacks either just above or below Wilson’s talent and production levels being extended frequently, like Ben Roethlisberger or Cam Newton, this process should be able to generate more approximate figures. The length of Wilson’s crusade certainly makes this interesting and looks to hover over a loaded Seahawks team’s pursuit of a second Super Bowl title in three years.

If these truly are Wilson’s demands, Florio does not envision an extension will be reached by the end of the month and foresees a future where Wilson could be attached to the exclusive franchise tag next year and traded for something more or different than the two first-round picks that accompany that distinction.

Neither the Seahawks nor Russell Wilson‘s camp has publicly set a deadline for the two sides to reach an agreement on a contract extension. However, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, even though neither party has come out and said it, negotiations will likely be shut down once training camp gets underway.

Wilson and the Seahawks have been having discussions about an extension ever since the Super Bowl ended in February, but have yet to find a common ground. According to Rapoport, the two sides figure to ramp up negotiations in the coming weeks, with Seattle set to begin training camp at the end of the month. As we saw this week with a handful of franchise-tag players, deadlines often lead to deals, but for now, Wilson and the Seahawks aren’t close.

Once training camp begins, Wilson will focus on his play on the field rather than his contract, and agent Mark Rodgers’ history representing baseball players suggests that the closer Wilson gets to free agency, the less likely he is to sign an extension — in other words, if the two sides don’t agree to terms by start of camp, Rodgers may not be eager to negotiate a deal for his client following the season either.

Citing a source who has spoken to Wilson, Rapoport explains that the quarterback doesn’t necessarily want to hit free agency, but he wants to be paid as if he did. The 26-year-old also hasn’t totally given up on the idea of landing a fully guaranteed contract, particularly given Rodgers’ extensive experience with baseball negotiations, where guaranteed deals are the norm.

If the Seahawks and Wilson don’t reach an agreement this summer, the team will still have the option of using the exclusive franchise tag – likely to cost around $25MM in 2016 – to keep the former third-round pick off the free agent market. As I alluded to above, this year’s franchised players proved that receiving that tag can be the first step toward completing a deal. Still, Wilson has expressed a comfort level in playing out the 2015 season without a new contract, so it’s reasonable to expect him to continue to play hardball if he’s franchised by the club next year.

With Wilson reportedly looking to become the league’s highest-paid player, and the Seahawks looking to work out a deal that can accommodate the other big-money investments on their roster, time will tell if the two sides are able to reach a compromise. But it sounds like it won’t happen in 2015 unless it happens by the end of the month.

In an interview with ESPN on Monday night, Russell Wilson handled questions about his contract situation with his usual tact, declining to reveal any details about the negotiations. The Seahawks quarterback said his relationship is “great and “not bad by any means,” adding that he’ll “trust the process” in getting a deal done (link via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times). Still, Wilson did make one comment that raised some eyebrows. Here’s more on that, along with the rest of today’s Wilson notes and rumors:

• As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes, Wilson did mention a specific figure when asked about his value, albeit in a roundabout way. “No matter how much I’m getting paid, whether it’s $25MM or $1.5MM,” Wilson said. “I’ll be ready to go.” As Florio points out, the latter figure is the QB’s salary for 2015 — could the first figure be the salary he’s seeking on his new deal?
• Of course, it’s entirely possible that Wilson just said the first large, round number that came into his head. But it’s worth noting that last year around this time, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com indicated that people around the league thought Wilson and Andrew Luck could eventually sign contracts worth $24-25MM annually.
• For his part, agent Mark Rodgers joked about Wilson’s mention of $25MM by tweeting, “I wish he had said $40 million. Then this would really be interesting. #patience #relax #nodeadline.”
• Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap takes an interesting, in-depth look at what sort of guaranteed money Wilson might be looking at on his next contract.