Kam Chancellor Ends Holdout, Returns To Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are 0-2. Let that sink in – the Seahawks, who were last seen almost winning the Super Bowl, have now opened their season having lost as many games as they’ve played. It’s an almost unthinkable start for a squad that many thought might have an outside chance at losing this many games all year.
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Not that the St. Louis Rams are ever an easy opponent to figure out, of course, and there’s a case to be made that the Green Bay Packers are the best team in the NFL. These defeats are shocking, yes, but it’s not like the Seahawks just got blown out by the Jaguars and Raiders in back-to-back home games or something. The losses sting, but the team should be fine. Oh yeah, and Kam Chancellor is back.
Wait, what?! Kam Chancellor? Like, the guy who’s been holding out for more money? Yes, you read that right. As of today, Chancellor is back with the Seahawks. Did this catch you off guard? Me too. Actually, it seems to have caught everyone off guard:
Kam Chancellor flew on a private plane from LA to Seattle to arrive at the facility. Told no one. No deal in place. A football decision.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 23, 2015
No deal in place. Kam Chancellor is coming back to the Seahawks despite the fact that his holdout yielded no increase in pay, next year or ever. In fact, it’s a pretty big net loss given all the fines he’s incurred during his money-driven absence. If money was really the most important factor for Kam, then it would stand to reason that he’d still be at home. And as such, Rapoport calls this “a football decision.”
What constitutes a “football decision?” Is that just supposed to mean that Chancellor got tired of his own holdout and decided he’d rather play than not play, money be damned? It sounds like yeah, that’s exactly what that means. Kam more or less confirms:
"It's go time bro...I got a mission to finish and miss my Brothers. I'm headed to work right now. Call you later today." - Kam #Seahawks
— Gee Scott Sr. 🎙️ (@GeeScottSr) September 23, 2015
From the team’s perspective, this is an unexpectedly wonderful development. Chancellor’s leverage has never been better, given the team’s crappy start and the woeful play of would-be Chancellor replacement Dion Bailey. The cries for the Seahawks to cave in and pay their star safety have grown louder and louder since the season began.
It was starting to look like desperation was going to force the Seahawks’ hand. And why wouldn’t it? So they would have set an unpleasant precedent, but doing so would allow them to add the piece their roster was most sorely missing. It would have been a sacrifice, a caving, and it would have made sense. And now they get all the benefits of having done that without actually having done that.
The Seattle Seahawks are so, so much better with Chancellor than without. He went to extreme lengths in an attempt to re-negotiate his contract, and when it didn’t work he finally decided just to throw in the towel and come back to work. Because he loves his job! That’s what this boils down to: Kam saw the way the season started in Seattle and felt a tinge of personal responsibility. He quit something that was clearly very important to him in order to do something that was a little bit more important to him.
There’s no telling if the addition of Kam Chancellor will put the 2015 Seattle Seahawks where they want to be. The early 0-2 hole is a big problem to have to deal with, but the upgrade from Bailey to Chancellor makes this team all of a sudden hugely improved. And they didn’t even have to pay extra for the boost! Welcome back, Kam. I’d tell you how much you were missed, but I think you already know.