Pete Carroll: Seahawks have talked to Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner on restructuring deals
Just because the Seahawks haven’t restructured the salaries of Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner doesn’t mean they won’t.
Coach Pete Carroll said Saturday his team has talked to its co-captains and highest-paid players about renegotiating their contracts to create salary-cap space this year. And Carroll kept open the possibility Seattle may re-do one of both of those deals, if the team gets into position to add more veteran players.
“As always, we have all of the options available to us,” Carroll said following the second of three rookie-minicamp practices with jet-skiers and power boats zipping by next to them on Lake Washington. “We have talked about all of that, as we do every year. What are our possibilities? Where do we need to go? What do we need to do, if we get to certain levels of need to stay in compliance (with the cap)?
“The money we need to come up with for another contracts, we’ve done all of that,” Carroll said.
“Know that we’ve looked at every, single option that’s out there—even to the point that those guys know we’ve discussed that, too.”
The Seahawks could convert up to $17.9 million of Wilson’s $19 million base salary for this year into bonus money. By league rules, they could then spread that new bonus money over the three years remaining on Wilson’s contract. That would save up to $11.95 million against Seattle’s cap this year, reducing his team-leading (by far) $32 million cap charge.
The News Tribune has confirmed with league source the Seahawks don’t need Wilson’s approval or initiative to restructure the quarterback’s contract that made him the richest player in NFL history in April 2019. It was done with a provision that allows his team to restructure the salary and bonus structure each year without his explicit or first approval.
Wilson, 32, has three seasons and $69 million remaining on his $140 million contract.
Now, in the interests of practicality and doing business with their 10-year veteran and most important player, Carroll, general manager John Schneider and Wilson would first agree to a restructure before the Seahawks did it. That would further show they are on board with Wilson following his stated frustration with the offense.
Wagner has a $13,150,000 base salary for this year on his $54 million contract. His deal, like Wilson’s, ends after the 2023 season. The Seahawks could save up to $6.04 million this year restructuring Wagner’s money.
That’s $18 million they could save re-doing Wilson and Wagner—but $18 million more onto Seattle’s 2022 and ‘23 salary caps. Those future caps are likely to spike to $200 million and above, with the league having just signed massive new television and streaming media rights deals.
The Seahawks entered the weekend at $7.49 million under the NFL’s $182.5 million salary cap for 2021, per overthecap.com. That’s 21st in the 32-team league.
This offseason, limited by a cap that went down by $15.5 million from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Seahawks have nevertheless added quite well, thank you. They’ve re-signed lead running back Chris Carson, two-time Pro Bowl defensive end Carlos Dunlap, starting defensive tackle Poona Ford, Mayowa and starting center Ethan Pocic. They’ve signed free agents Ahkello Witherspoon for cornerback, Kerry Hyder for edge pass rusher and tight end Gerald Everett. They’ve traded for veteran guard Gabe Jackson.
How have they done all that without asking Wilson and/or Wagner to restructure, at least so far?
They added years onto Jackson’s $56 million contract they inherited in the trade from the Raiders to give them a more team-friendly salary-cap charge for him for 2021.
They also this offseason entered a new realm of including void years in new veteran contracts.
In the 11 years that they’ve controlled the franchise, they have mostly declined to kick the can of present cap charges into the future through contract restructuring and extensions. That often gets teams in salary-cap hell, unable to stay competitive over time.
That Seattle custom applied when the salary cap was growing by $10 million and more year over year, so the team largely didn’t need to get this creative with so little cap space. This offseason is only the second one since the NFL went to a salary-cap system in 1994 that the cap has gone down. The other time was during the 2011 lockout of players during contentious negotiations on an expiring CBA.
Void years allow teams to spread cap charges across additional, phantom years on deals that are essentially shorter contracts. That’s what the Seahawks did to make their re-signing of Carson in March affordable under their tightly fitting 2021 cap. Theoretically, the deal is three years and $24,625,000. In reality, it’s two years and $14,625,000. Carson’s third year and other $10 million is a void year. The Seahawks included that to thin and spread his salary-cap charges over three years instead of two.
Carson won’t see that $10 million or third year of his contract, and the Seahawks won’t be paying it. But they will be carrying a prorated portion of his signing bonus under its cap that year. That’s the price of having a lower cap charge for him this year.
Mayowa’s deal is another example of how Schneider, Carroll and Thomas have gotten creative this month. Mayowa’s is a four-year contract with two void years. The contract for the 29-year-old pass rusher is essentially two years, $7.62 million with $4.1 million guaranteed and a $3 million signing bonus. Mayowa’s $1.1 million salary for this year is guaranteed. His salary-cap charge is only $2.24 million, thanks to the deal’s two void years.
At that rate, the team will have prorated signing-bonus charges of $750,000 in 2023 and ‘24, so-called “dead money” in the void years in Mayowa’s deal.
Seattle did the same thing while re-signing Dunlap. They also did it in signing Hyder, who had 8 1/2 sacks last season for San Francisco. Hyder will be the new defensive end opposite Dunlap and Mayowa in the Seahawks’ remade (again) pass rush.
Agent Erik Burkhardt confirmed to The News Tribune Hyder, 29, signed a three-year deal worth $16.5 million, with a chance to earn another $1 million with incentive bonuses. That third year is a voidable year. That makes it a two-year deal worth $6.5 million, with bonuses that could push it to $7.5 million.
There is a precedent here.
During the 2017 season, the Seahawks traded with Houston to acquire veteran Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown. To complete the deal, Wilson restructured his contract. The Seahawks converted millions of his base pay for that year into bonus money it applied to the next two years of its salary cap. That allowed Seattle to take on Brown’s contract in that October 2017 trade.
The Seahawks still could use a veteran defensive tackle, after losing starter Jarran Reed in a cap-casualty move after he and the team couldn’t agree on a new deal. Seattle hasn’t upgraded at center; Pocic and Kyle Fuller, also re-signed for only one year, are both returning from last season there.
Carroll made it clear Saturday his team’s shopping may still include having Wilson and Wagner restructure money to make it happen.
“It just hasn’t been necessary at this point,” Carroll said.
This story was originally published May 15, 2021 at 5:45 PM.
