Report: Michael Bennett’s agent to meet with Seahawks this week
Jul 25, 2016, 9:39 AM | Updated: 11:45 am
Seattle's Michael Bennett has been vocal since last offseason about his desire for a new contract. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks reportedly plan to meet early this week with Michael Bennett’s agent, Doug Hendrickson, about the defensive lineman’s desire for a new contract.
According to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, Bennett is looking for a two- or three-year extension that includes new money that would make him one of the six or seven highest-paid defensive linemen in the NFL.
Bennett, 30, has two years remaining on the four-year, $28.5 million contract he signed before the 2014 season. According to the website Spotrac.com, Bennett’s annual average of $7.125 million ranks tied for 29th among NFL defensive linemen. The top seven players on that list all make at least twice that much, so Bennett is looking for a substantial raise.
He has been vocal about his desire for one since last offseason. And considering he’s coming off a career year in which he recorded a team-high 10 sacks and made his first Pro Bowl, Bennett arguably has a stronger case for a new deal now than he did then. From the Seahawks’ standpoint, the case against giving Bennett a new contract has been about the dangerous precedent it would set to re-do a deal with more than a year left. That was general manager John Schneider’s stated reason for not giving Marshawn Lynch a new contract in the summer of 2014, when he was halfway through a four-year deal.
Bennett expressed his frustration over his contract situation in a recent interview with the Huffington Post.
“It is never-ending,” he said. “Especially when people are getting new contracts every day. You sit there and you’re like, ‘Damn, really?’ I’m just to the point where it’s kind of like, if you don’t think I’m valuable, then just get rid of me.”
Coach Pete Carroll was quoted in the same story as saying the team is going to make “an effort so he remains a Seahawk.”
The timing of the reported planned meeting between the Seahawks and Bennett’s agent is significant as players are scheduled to report to training camp on Friday. Bennett skipped the voluntary portion of Seattle’s offseason workouts then attended mandatory minicamp, though he sat out with what he said was an ankle injury. While Bennett has indicated that he will show up to training camp, it’s entirely possible that he decides to sit out if he doesn’t have a new deal.
