Seahawks reward Michael Bennett with three-year extension

The Seahawks have rewarded Michael Bennett for playing on through his unhappiness with his contract.

Agent Doug Hendrickson confirmed to The News Tribune Friday morning that his Pro Bowl defensive-end client and the Seahawks have agreed to a three-year contract extension. Seattle now has the 31-year-old Bennett under contract through the 2020 season.

The deal first reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network is worth up to $31.5 million. More important to Bennett, it includes $17.5 million in guarantees.

The Seahawks and general manager John Schneider set a new precedent by giving Bennett a new contract with more than one year remaining on his previous four-year, $28.5 million deal.

Schneider had previously refused to negotiate extensions with veteran with multiple season remaining on their Seahawks contract. The most notable case of that was safety Kam Chancellor last year, which led to Chancellor's 50-plus-day holdout into the 2015 regular season.

Bennett was also unhappy about his deal at that time, and before and during this season. But unlike Chancellor, Bennett showed up on time to training camp and played through toe and other injuries to earn Pro Bowl selections in each of the last two seasons.

The Seahawks' regular-season finale is Sunday at San Francisco. The NFC West champions begin their fifth consecutive postseason perhaps as early as next week.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 11:32 AM with the headline "Seahawks reward Michael Bennett with three-year extension."