The Price of Retaining Doug Baldwin
Re-signing Doug Baldwin to a new contract is a move we may see Seahawks GM John Schneider make before training camp; but what type of money will this move cost the Seahawks?
One of the storylines of the Seahawks offseason is the continuing contract status of wide receiver Doug Baldwin who is entering the final year of his current deal. The 2015 season saw Doug Baldwin and quarterback Russell Wilson connect 78 times for 1069 yards and 14 touchdowns (which was an NFL best). When examining Doug Baldwin’s contributions on the field and what he means to the Seahawks offense what might the cost of keeping him look like?
Below is a list some of the contracts signed recently by players whose contributions or overall potential seem to align with that of Doug Baldwin. All of the below salary information is courtesy of spotrac.com.
These players were signed during the 2015 offseason:
- Marvin Jones signed a 5-year / $40 million dollar contract
- $8 million signing bonus
- $20 million in guarantees
- Mohamed Sanu signed a 5-year / $32.5 million dollar contract
- $7 million signing bonus
- $14 million in guarantees
- Travis Benjamin signed a 4-year / $24 million dollar contract
- $5 million signing bonus
- $13 million in guarantees
These players were signed prior to the 2015 offseason:
- Randall Cobb signed a 4-year / $40 million dollar contract
- $13 million signing bonus
- $13 million in guarantees
- Golden Tate signed a 5-year / $31 million dollar contract
- $8 million signing bonus
- $16 million in guarantees
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A case can be made that none of the wide receivers signed this offseason (M. Sanu, M. Jones, and T. Benjamin) have had the same on-field success of Doug Baldwin. This is the reason the other two players were listed as both Randall Cobb and former Seahawk Golden Tate have had similar on-field success to that of Baldwin, but their contracts were signed in previous off-seasons.
The above information paints a picture that Doug Baldwin may likely receive or four or five-year contract valued between $35 and $40 million in total. This contract could have a signing bonus of $7 to $10 million and between $15 and $20 million in guarantees.
Doug Baldwin has certainly outperformed his current contract (3-year / $13 million) and based on the numbers his peers around the league have received Baldwin seems to be in-line for a big payday. However for a team that’s success has been built around running the football and playing good defense this is a significant investment in a wide receiver.
Combine Doug Baldwin’s new contract with the current contract of TE Jimmy Graham (4-year / $40 million) and the Seahawks passing catchers will make significantly more money than those individuals being paid to run the football.
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GM John Schneider will have to continue his balancing act of trying to keep the Seahawks roster intact while also keeping it under the salary cap. However if the past few years have taught us anything about the Seahawks that would be: “In John Schneider we trust!”