John Schneider says Kam Chancellor will ‘absolutely’ be with Seahawks in 2016
Mar 22, 2016, 4:46 PM | Updated: 4:49 pm
"I can't speak more highly of a guy," John Schneider said about Kam Chancellor. (AP)
(AP)
A week after Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor indicated that he’s “not going anywhere,” general manager John Schneider confirmed as much Tuesday from the NFL owners’ meetings in Boca Raton, Fla.
Speaking with reporters – including ESPN.com’s Sheil Kapadia and Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times – Schneider talked glowingly about Chancellor and said he’ll “absolutely” be with Seattle next season, putting an end to speculation that the two sides will part ways after last year’s messy contract dispute.
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Schneider’s comments were in response to a question about a recent Instagram post in which Chancellor called Seattle his second home and said he doesn’t plan on leaving unless a “higher power” places him there.
“Kam is an extremely prideful, spiritual person. There’s a lot of family things that stay in house. That’s one of them,” Schneider said, via Kapadia. I can’t speak more highly of a guy. It was a tough, tough thing for everybody to go through last year, so I’m glad he feels that way.”
Schneider then answered in the affirmative when asked if there’s no question that Chancellor will be a Seahawk in 2016.
“Yeah, he’s a Seahawk,” Schneider said. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
Chancellor missed all of training camp and the first two games of the regular season last year while holding out. He returned with no new deal or any adjustments to the four-year, $28 million extension he signed before the 2013 season.
That Chancellor never got the new deal he was seeking could have resulted in some lingering bitterness, perhaps enough to strain the relationship between the two sides beyond repair. That was the impetus for the notion that Seattle might trade Chancellor, which very well could have been a consideration.
But as Danny O’Neil wrote in his latest column, Chancellor’s Instagram post was significant in that it seemed to indicate that the fences have been mended to the point that he won’t force his way out of Seattle.
Schneider’s comments are confirmation that he won’t do that.
