Report: QB Russell Wilson becomes league’s highest-paid player in new deal with Seahawks

The Seahawks and Russell Wilson have reached an agreement on a new contract that reportedly makes Seattle’s quarterback the NFL’s highest-paid player and keeps him with the Seahawks through 2023.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports the two sides agreed to a four-year deal worth $140 million, with a $65 million signing bonus. The deal – announced by Wilson himself in a video posted to Twitter early Tuesday morning – eclipses that of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, owner of the league’s most lucrative deal prior to Tuesday. Rodgers signed a four-year, $134 million extension with $98.7 guaranteed in August 2018.

The extension also includes a no-trade clause, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

SEATTLE. Let’s get it. @Seahawks #GoHawks pic.twitter.com/xeWnEnUzmR

— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) April 16, 2019

This is the second contract extension between Wilson and the Seahawks. The 30-year-old quarterback was entering his final season of a four-year, $87.6 million extension signed in July 2015. Rather than carry negotiations for a new deal into the start of training camp – as was the case in 2015 – Wilson’s camp reportedly gave the team an April 15 deadline for a new contract, according to Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times. Per 710 ESPN Seattle’s Jake Heaps, that deadline was issued on Jan. 31.

Given Wilson’s contract status, the widely-held assumption that the new contract would carry a hefty price tag, and his looming deadline, there had been a number of recent reports questioning his future in Seattle. The extension obviously brings an end to that theorizing.

With the new deal, the Seahawks are able to avoid the use of a franchise tag on the quarterback in 2020.

In seven seasons with Seattle, Wilson has accrued 25,624 passing yards and 196 touchdowns. He has another 1,952 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground. A third-round NFL Draft pick by the Seahawks in 2012, Wilson has reached two Super Bowls – winning one – and has led Seattle to 10 or more wins in all but one season (2017).

Wilson holds Seattle franchise records for career completion percentage (64.2), career passing touchdowns, passing touchdowns in a single season (35), touchdowns in a single-game (5), lowest career interception percentage (1.9), highest career passer rating (100.3), highest passer rating in a single game (158.3), single season passing yards (4,219), and single game passing yards (452), among others.

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