.

Dr. Grumpy sez,

I have to admit I was a little let down by Wilson playing hardball with the team.  However, we don't know what he wants to do with all that extra money.  Maybe he wants part of his legacy to be a large foundation or generous charitable giving.  It seems grotesque to us but he only has one or two chances to get paid his market value.  The salary cap will go up.  No doubt it makes it harder to put out a complete team though.

OTOH, he's been underestimated and undervalued pre-NFL and maybe even up till now.  Maybe he feels he wants to be fairly valued?  Cam Newton is making more this year than RW will over his entire rookie contract.

- See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/comment/108694#comment-108694

.

For sure.  If I had a $120M company, I'd try to negotiate a sale of $120M.  Not a thing wrong with selling your property (or skills) to the highest bidder -- both capitalism and Christianity state that clearly, I would argue.

And as Grumpy points out, with the 'extra' $30M (as opposed to dumping the company fast for $90M) you could do a lot of good things for other people.  Rolling Stone once asked the post-Beatles John Lennon, "Why not just get together and record ten songs so you could build hospitals in Africa?"  Lennon's reply left a lot to be desired...

Wilson spends plenty of time with the disadvantaged.  However, his stated goal of owning an NFL team doesn't seem to imply that he's going to give half his money away.  :: shrug :: Maybe he is.

.......

It is at the point where Wilson (seems to) imply that the Creator's will is for Wilson to be mega-mega wealthy (with the extra 'mega') that I push back on the theological side.  The "Prosperity Gospel" concept itself is not fair to good people who suffer.  From an Old and New Testament standpoint it is a wild 3rd-down interception run back for a touchdown.  If you all would like a Konspiracy Korner on the Problem of Pain, please let us know.  But that's only incidental here.  We're talking about Russell Wilson's TV persona.  That's the subject.

Wilson packages himself as a Chosen Disciple, blessed from Heaven so awesomely because he's the apple of the Creator's eye.  (And because he's a man of unique focus and wisdom.)  He can do this too with little annoyance from me, although spiritual humility seems to have been a major part of Christian teachings.  He notes wryly.  

... it is precisely at the point where Wilson SPLICES these two ideas -- I should be an aggressive capitalist because the Almighty wouldn't want me to have only $100M -- that I have an opinion.  

........

Wilson seems like a good guy, and mostly sincere.  My son now detests Wilson, whereas my liking for him has merely gone from 7.5 to 6.5 on a 1-10 scale.  But the Tebow flavor in his self-representation hits me the wrong way.Doesn't make him the Devil.  Just makes him a guy I'll argue with. But tough negotiations with the Seahawks?  In a vacuum, 's okay by me.

.

GLS sez,

Compared to other sports, NFL teams have a pretty sweet deal.  - See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/comment/108694#comment-108694

.

Well played, Mauer.  :- )  

Bill James once said, "I'm all for baseball players making more money, as opposed to the team keeping it all."  Brian Bosworth said, "I drove by a Nordstrom's.  They don't look like they're hurting."  HEH!

.

Grumpy sez,

We're going to lose a lot of good players b/c of RW getting a max dollars contract.

I think a lot of people were hoping RW would take a team friendly deal b/c he's a "team first guy, etc), but it looks like that's not the case.  Initially I was disappointed by this, but we really don't know what RW is going to do with that extra money.- See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/comment/108694#comment-108694

.

So that's the first point, point A.  The situation is complex and we have few facts at hand.  Which makes this a sports conversation, not a judicial hearing on Wilson's moral character.  Just so Grumpy!

The point B is also a pivot point.  The Seahawk players and coaches TALK about TEAM FIRST.  Russell Wilson himself is practically an assistant coach to Carroll, and his "black" teammates have been willing to "cut Wilson slack" for aligning himself with management!

But if you are going to TALK to everybody about team first, well ... actions speak louder than words.  And no action, in an NFL locker room, would speak louder than money.  Others have taken team-friendly deals.  If Wilson now fails to do this, then logically does it not imply hypocrisy, and blow his leadership cover?

We're not asking the question angrily.  We're asking it philosophically.  Shouldn't Russell Wilson be taking the first bullet, as it were, in terms of money?  Doesn't he need to take the first bullet, for this whole "Dominate the NFL Via Camaraderie" concept to function over the period 2015-18?

.

MtGrizzly sez,

I would not pay Russell Wilson top five QB money. I like him but he's more a product of the system and the players around him than any of the other top flight QB's in the league. Brady and Rogers, for instance, have each had almost complete rebuilds done around them during their tenure yet their teams have remained dangerous and even stayed in contention while it's happened. I don't see Wilson being the kind of guy that can put a team on his back for seasons on end like that, while the rest of the roster jell. 

To me, Wilson is the guy that pushes a team into that upper echelon of NFL teams. He is not the guy that puts a team there by his mere presence on the team. - See more at: http://seattlesportsinsider.com/comment/108696#comment-108696

.

With the Seahawks' defense, and Marshawn Lynch, does anybody doubt that the 2013-15 Seahawks would have been just as good with Philip Rivers at quarterback?  Personally I think they'd have been better.

Glancing down the list of 2014 QB rankings, I count 15-20 quarterbacks that I believe would have improved the last two Seahawks teams.  Including Roethlisberger, Romo, Flacco, Rivers and Ryan, to say nothing of the great pocket passers.  The problem is, if you lose Wilson, you can't get any of those 15-20 quarterbacks.  Or can you?  If the negotiations failed, would you be able to trade [Russell Wilson and Bruce Irvin and ?] for [Matt Ryan and Julio Jones], and hold down your salary at the QB position?

Wilson's thing is that he was very good FOR HIS AGE and that his "safety first" approach meshes so well with Carroll's instincts.  But you give me Andrew Luck or Drew Brees with this defense, and you just watch the scores on Sunday.

.

Wilson is so fun to watch for me because he combines PHYSICAL QUICKNESS with MENTAL STILLNESS.  Pro sports get faster and faster, and you could argue that Russell Wilson stands to become the very epitome of 21st century football.

As with Randy Johnson, I'd pay Wilson.  But I fret that it would become the domino that kicked over the "team chemistry" house of cards.  Pretty easy for NFL locker rooms to go South; the 2014 Seahawks themselves very nearly had that happen.  The Seahawks have a crazy thing going, like the 116-win Mariners.  Too big an act to break it up.

Cheers,

Dr D