Could Russell Wilson play out his rookie deal for the Seattle Seahawks?

It seems that everyone, including myself, is assuming that Russell Wilson will be signing a massive contract extension in the coming weeks. That isn’t the only option that the Seahawks have, and financially it makes way too much sense for them not to do so.

That doesn’t mean that the team would let Wilson leave in free agency either. They have another tool in place that would allow them to keep Wilson on the roster: the franchise tag.

Wilson could play out his current contract this season at a cost of just under $1 million. In 2016, they could use the franchise tag to keep him if they still aren’t able to get him locked up with a new contract.  The 2015 franchise tag number is just over $15 million, which is less than Wilson will make with a new deal. The 2016 number will be slightly more than that.

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In 2017, they could do the same thing, even though the franchise tag number will jump to around $19 million that season for Wilson. That is close to what he will make per season with his new contract.

Going this path gives the Seahawks up to three seasons to get a new contract done with Wilson. Two of those seasons have him playing under market value. It would save the team close to $20 million overall in both cash and cap space over that time. No matter how you spin that, it isn’t insignificant.

That’s a lot of money. It is also a lot of cap space that could be used to keep the roster together. It is also a lot of money that Wilson won’t have in his bank account if this happens. That creates a huge incentive from his camp to make sure this doesn’t happen.

This is negotiation leverage that the Seahawks can use to help keep Wilson’s contract in check. It benefits neither side if it forces them gut the roster in a couple of seasons like Baltimore had to when Joe Flacco got his mega-deal.

Overall, I still think the Seahawks and Wilson get a deal in place before the start of training camp. The Seahawks have done a good job of taking care of their guys over the last few years. Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, K.J, Wright, etc. have all gotten their contracts.

Wilson shouldn’t be any different in that regard, but that doesn’t mean that this is going to be an easy negotiation.