Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor will reportedly end his month long holdout and report to the team facility on Wednesday. Chancellor missed all of training camp and the Seahawks’ first two games of the season. The former Virginia Tech Cavalier had been hoping to get the contract he signed after the 2012 season (four-year, $28 million extension) restructured.
I have zero issue with players trying to maximize how much money they make during their playing career. I don’t be begrudge anyone trying to make as much money as they can, but Chancellor was never going win this holdout. The Seattle front office never caved, even though their team’s defense clearly improves the minute the Pro Bowl safety is on the field. But after an 0-2 start and the season in need of salvaging (I still think Pete Carroll’s squad will be one of the multiple 0-2 teams to make the playoffs), Chancellor decided it was time to end the holdout. That was the right decision because he was never going to get his deal restructured, but the end to Kam Chancellor’s holdout leads to an interesting question.
The Seahawks won in that they didn’t give in and restructure the deal of a player who still has multiple years remaining on his deal, but they lost in that they have started the season 0-2. Chancellor not being on the field certainly wasn’t the only reason the two-time reigning NFC Champions began the 2015 season 0-2, but his absence definitely contributed to the slow start. But the interesting part of this holdout saga isn’t what will happen on the field because we know what will happen on the field: Chancellor will revert to his Pro Bowl form, and Seattle’s defense will look and play much better as a result. The intriguing question is, what will the Seahawks decide to do about the money Chancellor still owes them?
Chancellor forfeited his game checks for the first two games, which totaled $535,294, and the Seahawks have kept those checks. That’s a significant amount of money, but there is still roughly $2.1 million Seattle could collect from Chancellor. He accumulated $1.11 million in fines ($30,000 daily fines for missing training camp), and the Seahawks could also demand that Chancellor payback a prorated portion of the $5 million signing bonus he got in 2013.
If a veteran player holds out, teams often opt to not collect the fines a player accrues from missing training camp as long as said player reports in time to play in the regular season. But a team forgiving fines when a player has held out into the regular season would set a dangerous precedent. It would send the message that holding out into the regular season isn’t as much of a gamble as previously thought. Sure, a player would still end up forfeiting game checks for missed games and that can get expensive, but Chancellor will save a lot of money if the Seahawks decide to not go after the remaining money he technically owes them.
Chancellor is one of Seattle’s best players, so will the Seahawks go after the prorated portion of Chancellor’s contract and refuse to forgive the fines? Or will they try to play nice and not go after any of the money they are still owed, as a way of building trust with their Pro Bowl safety? Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain. The other 31 NFL owners and front offices are hoping the Seahawks go after the money, and they will be watching to see what happens.
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