Russell Wilson’s max contract: A long time coming

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Bram Wiggins, Staff Reporter

Russell Wilson has just signed a record-breaking contract that puts me and many other NFL fans in shock. Wilson’s new deal settled at four years, $140 million, with $107 million guaranteed. The deal includes a no-trade-clause, according to NBC Sports Northwest. This makes Wilson the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.

Overall, Russell Wilson does indeed deserve a deal like this after the accomplishments he has already brought to Seattle at such a young age. Wilson holds the Seahawks franchise records for the most wins, touchdown passes and Super Bowl victories at only 30 years old. He clearly has a lot more football left in him.

An interesting poll via Twitter done by @NickHPatterson asks: “Is Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson worth his four-year, $140 million contract extension?” Fans responded and the polls resulted in Wilson winning 65 percent of votes, stating that he does deserve the new record-breaking deal.

The 2019 NFL Draft had very little quarterback talent making it quite challenging to find another guy like Wilson in this year’s NFL Draft. If we were not to re-sign Wilson, we would be without a top tier quarterback for at least a few years down the road. Wilson works great with our offense and the team loves the energy he brings forth on game day. After reading an article done by Adam Stites titled, “The Seahawks were absolutely correct to make Russell Wilson the NFL’s highest-paid player,” Stites said “Wilson isn’t just a good player — he’s a five-time Pro Bowler.”

Wilson has not missed the NFL MVP Award by much the last two seasons and never had a passer rating below 92, which is incredible. Passing more than 3,000 yards is not easy and Wilson has exceeded that in every season he has played in. Never having a losing season or missing any games due to injury are just more reasons as to why Wilson truly deserves this contract even more than any other quarterback within the NFL.

Before Wilson came to Seattle in 2012, the Seahawks had never won a Super Bowl and had a losing season nearly every single year since the team was established in 1976 under head coach Jack Patera.

Wilson didn’t just bring high-level football back to Seattle, he brought the whole community much closer and elevated Seattle’s status around the country, and even parts of the world through his passion and care he showed for his fans outside of just the game of football. The NFL is not just about a sport, it’s a business. If you want fans to watch, you must pay their favorite players in order to do so. I should highlight the fact that this last season was supposed to be a year to rebuild after losing many other big stars, such as Cliff Avril, Michael Bennett, Kam Chancellor and Richard Sherman, all of whom were Pro Bowl players and potential Hall of Famers one day. Something Tim Booth for Chicago Sun Times said that I agree with, “The five-time Pro Bowl selection is coming off arguably his best season as Seattle went a surprising 10-6 and earned an NFC wild card before losing to Dallas in the opening round of the playoffs. It was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but the Seahawks were ahead of schedule thanks to their return to a run-first offense and Wilson’s exceptional performance when tasked to throw.”

Wilson is no doubt a special talent and vital to our team. One could argue he was the sole reason we were still able to pull off a pretty solid season last year, when nobody expected much from the Seahawks at all.

I am very pleased to still have Wilson as “our guy.” I have no doubt about his work ethic and preparation skills as quarterback for the remainder of his time in Seattle. He definitely deserved his record-breaking contract.