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Seattle Seahawks: Kam Chancellor has no realistic shot at winning dispute

By Kevin Parvizi

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Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor is holding out for more money even after already signing a long-term deal back in 2013 that still has him as the fifth highest-paid strong safety in the NFL and tenth highest-paid safety overall.

ALSO ON SPIN ZONE: Where Does Chancellor Rank Among Best Safeties?

Of course, we all know that Chancellor is better than the NFL’s tenth-best safety, and he’s certainly a better strong safety than the likes of Dashon Goldson and William Moore. In fact, his only competition for the “best SS” designation is Kansas City Chiefs all-around beast Eric Berry, who was a high first round-pick in the same draft class as fellow Seahawks star Earl Thomas.

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Chancellor’s decision to claw his way for a bigger payday is admirable, especially since he and Richard Sherman have done a great job of informing the public about his situation. After dealing with injuries last year, Chancellor knows that he doesn’t have much time to make the most of his earning power before it’s all over. The former Virginia Tech star is still in the prime of his career at 27, but with his current contract set to end in 2018 when he’ll be 30 at the start of the regular season, time is becoming even more of a limiting factor.

It’s hard to argue that Chancellor doesn’t deserve more than $7.55 million in guaranteed money over the next three years with base salaries of $4.55 million, $5.1 million, and $6.8 million, as per Spotrac.com. But while those numbers are under what other (and worse) safeties are making, Chancellor isn’t exactly earning chump change either and is only in the third year of his five-year deal.

Since the Seahawks already have so much money tied up in their nucleus of players and just gave key extensions to Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner (their two quarterbacks), there isn’t much- to take a Joseph Randle-ism)- meat on the bone left for Chancellor to take, especially since he isn’t finished with his plate of wings yet.

This has all caused Chancellor to try and play some hard ball with the Seahawks organization, as he’s threatened to hold out of actual games. That threat seems extremely empty to me, because unlike Dez Bryant, who threatened the same thing, he has more than one year left on his deal and isn’t the second-most important player on the team. He’s important, yes, but even with Earl Thomas injured, he doesn’t have enough leverage here. But Joel Corry has the biggest reason why Chancellor’s threat to hold out of games should be shrugged off.

Yeah, that’s not worth it, even if staying off the field is another way Chancellor can avoid being injured.

I sympathize with Chancellor, because it looks like he’ll have to play out the final three years of a team-friendly deal that he took just before turning into one of the game’s most fearsome beasts on defense. And part of what makes him so beastly (his hard-hitting) is what makes him so vulnerable to injury, and this has caused him to aggressively pursue a raise. I’m sure he wants more guaranteed money after the 2015 season (almost all of his base salary is guaranteed this year), but he’s probably looking for even more than $5.1 and $6.8 million in 2016 and 2017.

Basically, his chances of getting a new deal come down to how merciful the Seahawks feel like being, and the easiest compromise is for the ‘Hawks to just guarantee more than his $1 million signing bonus money in 2016 and 2017. While Chancellor still has little-to-no leverage in this case (since it isn’t worth holding out of game checks just to get more guaranteed cash), the Seattle Seahawks could see this as a gesture of good faith.

Oct 12, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor (31) tackles Dallas Cowboys running back Lance Dunbar (25) during the first half at CenturyLink Field. Dallas defeated Seattle 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

In case Chancellor does decide to hold out of games, he’ll have to worry about second-year USC product Dion Bailey, who would slot in as the starting strong safety and is a cerebral player with good ball skills who has shown that he is capable of reading plays near the line of scrimmage. Chancellor’s football IQ is undoubtedly higher (and his physical skills blow Bailey’s out of the water), but Bailey is young, cheap, and intriguing. Maybe that’s enough to give Chancellor a scare.

As nice as it would be to see Chancellor making a little bit more money in case his body takes a turn for the worst over the next few seasons, I just don’t see any reason for the Seahawks to give in. They are already in a precarious situation financially, and Chancellor is their tenth highest-paid player per year.

I understand that Thomas’s injury situation helps push things in Chancellor’s favor, but that favor is just additional guaranteed money and not a real raise. That would be helpful, but Chancellor will almost certainly finish his career in Seattle as an underpaid star safety, especially since the strong safety market isn’t the flourishing one.

Next: Which Seahawks Are Among NFL's Best Players?

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