Two years after a holdout forced the Seahawks to play a pair of games without Kam Chancellor, the franchise and their star safety have come to terms on a new pact.
Chancellor signed a three-year, $36 million contract extension Tuesday with $25 million guaranteed, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported. Chancellor was coming up on the final year of a five-year, $29.323 million deal he signed back in 2013.
ESPN first reported the development. The Seahawkslater confirmed the signing.
"I love this team," Chancellor said, per the team's official website. "They gave me the first opportunity -- the only opportunity -- and I would love to retire here."
This was a necessity for Seattle. Chancellor is quite possibly the team's best defensive player. During Chancellor's holdout, his backfield mate Earl Thomas recognized that Chancellor was the one tasked with lining up the legendary Legion of Boom defense. He was known for doing all of head coach Pete Carroll's "dirty work."
Now, the quiet giant in Seattle's secondary has a paycheck consistent with his production. While the $12 million average per year places him behind Eric Berry and Tyrann Mathieu, the percentage of guaranteed money in the deal is incredibly high -- something players often value far more than inflated details.
The signing caps what has been a masterful run for Seahawks general manager John Schneider, who was tasked with the challenge of keeping one of the greatest defenses all time together. Despite legitimate arguments from three or four players on the Super Bowl XLVIII team claiming to be the reason the defense shut down Peyton Manning and waltzed into the record books, Schneider was able to secure Chancellor, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett for the long term.
Chancellor, 29, will now be under contract through the remainder of his prime years.
"We have worked real long and hard at that,"Carroll said about Chancellor's deal over the weekend. "There is a lot of real positive stuff coming, we're not quite there yet but I think it's nothing but positive stuff and hopefully we will be able to get something finished soon."
Added Chancellor at the time: "I really don't like to put no negative thoughts in my head. I'm a positive guy so I'd rather just keep it on the positive end. Both sides have been productive, positive and we're just going to keep it there."
Chancellor is now a step closer to his over-arching goal, which is to retire as a lifelong member of the Seahawks.
