Seahawks GM John Schneider Plays New Bargaining Chip in Wilson Negotiations

The slow-moving negotiations between Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks appear to have hit another snag with John Schneider today announcing his apparent intentions to let Wilson walk if it means keeping together the championship-calibre team he has built around his young quarterback.

“[The NFL is the] ultimate team sport. He’s our quarterback. We’d love him to be our quarterback,” Schneider told ESPN Seattle. “But the thing is, we need to keep as many of these guys together as we possible can.”

The news throws more of a burden onto the already heavy load carried by Wilson and his negotiation team, as they inch ever closer to a long-term deal that should make him one of the NFL’s wealthiest players.

At a time of the year where smokescreens and deceptions dominate, it’s very possible Schneider is doing nothing more than deliberately showing his hand to a player that has yet to completely rule out the idea of playing two sports professionally.

“I never want to kill the dream of playing two sports,” Wilson told reporters sometime earlier. Wilson is of course referring to Major League Baseball and the sporadic time he has spent with the Texas Rangers organisation in the last couple of years. He would become the first player of such a high profile to play two major sports since the freakish Bo Jackson some two decades ago, but the concept has become an exponentially greater logistical nightmare since Bo’s heyday.

Wilson’s intentions may well be genuine, but in 2015, every professional athlete must work year-round on their craft. Gone are the days of flip-flopping between sports with the expectation that your starting job will still be open once you return next year.

Wilson is not a foolish man, and if this is indeed a veiled attempt at sweetening Seattle’s offer, you certainly can’t blame the man for trying. With Wilson’s two Super Bowl appearances in three years and the best start to an NFL career since the decorated Ben Roethlisberger, all signs point to the two sides eventually hammering out a favourable deal.

Until then, don’t expect to see Wilson don the baseball cap with the big red T any time soon. Such a drastic code switch sounds almost as ludicrous as NRL MVP Jarryd Hayne quitting Australian Rugby League in favour of an NFL futures contract, or Jim Harbaugh being ousted from his former team only to return to the college ranks. Okay, maybe it isn’t time to rule out Russell’s plan just yet.