It wasn’t just Russell Wilson and his agent, Mark Rodgers, that were happy an April 15th deadline succeeded in securing a new long-term contract with the Seahawks.
The Seahawks were just as happy to have the deadline in place as well.
General Manager John Schneider said on Wednesday during a press conference to announce the deal between the two sides that it was the right way to approach getting a deal accomplished in a timely manner for their star quarterback.
“The April 15th deal for us was a good idea,” Schneider said. “The last one, quite frankly, took too long and took a lot of energy away from what we’re supposed to be doing. We thought it was a good idea on their part and worked out for both sides because we had to know what was going on, be able to clear our minds and be right.”
Wilson last signed a contract extension with the Seahawks on the first day of training camp in 2015 mere hours before taking to the practice field. Wilson didn’t want a repeat of that scenario this time around. With the offseason workout program beginning on the 15th, that became the deadline this time around instead of the start of training camp.
“The reality was we were coming back to play football. I have an obsession with football. I just want to play the game. I just want to be able to focus on that,” Wilson said. “I remember the first time, the other contract, it was one of those things that took us all away to the summertime, right before training camp -- literally to 11:50 that night and everything else. The next day, we were practicing.
“For me, and for everyone involved really -- the whole organization -- it was really more so of a ‘Hey, let’s make sure we don’t have to drag out this whole process.’ Everybody writing, everybody talking, everybody speculating. These thoughts and this thought. Let’s remain focused on what I really want: winning. Let’s do everything we can to prepare in that way.”
Wilson said he wants to finish his career in Seattle and envisions himself playing 20 total years in the NFL. While this contract won’t take care of the entirety of that timeframe, it does insure Wilson will spend more than a decade with the team that drafted him in the third round of the 2012 draft.
“It was extremely important, yeah,"head coach Pete Carroll said. “For the continuity of this program, for the continuity of the following, all the fans who have known who we are and how we like to play and Russ has ignited an energy about the games that we play and the style from the offensive side. I thought it was really important for us. We think we have a really good team and we’re really fired up about it, and to be able to maintain this continuity was extremely important for us.”