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Kam Chancellor, Seattle Seahawks Need A Resolution – And Now

By Raymond Schwabacher

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Happy NFL Day! It might not be the first day of the Seattle Seahawks‘ season, but this evening does feature the first football of the year, a matchup between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. These are, of course, the only two teams to have ever defeated the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. Buncha jerks. So let’s talk about Kam Chancellor instead.

Seattle Seahawks: The Roster, Ranked (#14-#1)

It’s the first day of the NFL season and there is still no sign of Kam Chancellor. The Seahawks superstar strong safety still hasn’t joined the team after holding out for more money throughout the entirety of the preseason. He’s now a virtual lock to miss week one, with the team having already named Dion Bailey the starter at safety. It’s a blow for the team, who are losing out on at least a week of their fifth-best player.

From day one, this was a situation that had dragged on much, much longer than it needed to. The necessity of a holdout was questioned from the get-go: Chancellor is well-paid, and the Seahawks didn’t really have any obvious way of increasing his salary for this year or any year going forward. It’s weird that the holdout started, and significantly weirder that it has yet to end.

Just when we thought this couldn’t get any more frustrating, here comes the news that the two sides are allegedly quite close in negotiations. Like, $900,000 total close. That’s not at all unreasonable – and on top of that, Chancellor is willing to meet the team half way. There is absolutely no reason this shouldn’t get done today. There’s no reason this shouldn’t get done a month ago.

Of course, there is a reason: precedent. The Seahawks don’t want to show that they’re willing to increase a well-paid player’s pay at his request because then what would stop every well-paid player from asking for – and having reason to expect – a raise? It makes sense from their end, but only to a certain extent. At this point they’re opting to roll with a significantly weakened team just to prove a point. It’s not worth it.

Chancellor seems to be ready to end this thing, but the Seahawks are insisting that he come away empty-handed in order to welcome him back. There’s even been trade talk! John Schneider‘s made a ferocious habit of not backing down, and it’s not like he really needs to. Even without Chancellor, the 2015 Seahawks look rather amazing. But it’s not worth it anymore. Not with the price of a reunion being so low.

Here’s how the Seahawks can get Kam back without putting themselves in a bad place going forward: give him an extra $450,000 and welcome him back with open arms. It’s such a tiny total after such a long holdout that hardly any worthwhile player in their right mind would see that as precedent for requesting an oversized deal mid-contract. Just give him what he wants. He doesn’t want much, is why that’s okay.

Kam Chancellor is a critical piece of the 2015 Seattle Seahawks, a good-but-flawed team with their sights rightfully set on the Super Bowl. He never made it to camp due to monetary demands, but it now appears as if those demands have come way, way down. The regular season starts tonight, and the Seahawks’ season starts in three days. This is insane. Pay the man.

Next: Billy Eppler: Seattle Mariners GM Candidate

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