TERRY MOSHER
RUSSELL WILSON
You might think it’s crazy and simply greedy that Russell Wilson is apparently arguing in negotiations with the Seahawks for a huge amount of guaranteed money. Seahawks owner Paul Allen is worth enough to buy half the state, or all of Eastern Washington, so why doesn’t he just open his check book and get ‘er done?
Because, NFL owners, especially those who don’t have excess billions lying around like Allen, don’t want to set a precedent that will hurt them and the league down the road.
So owners like the Green Bay Packers, which is publically own with a net worth of just over a billion, and the Davis’ at Oakland and Dan Rooney with the Pittsburgh Steelers, each of whom are worth about a half-billion, get nervous when guaranteed money is thrown about, especially by Allen, who tops all NFL owners with a net worth of about 16 billion (17 billion if you throw in the guitars he owns; that’s a joke).
If you are beginning to dislike Wilson because he’s being stubborn and you think he should shut up and play for peanuts just because you like him and he has shown he can do miraculous things with the football, then think again. This is a business, this thing called pro football.
Do you know the average career playing time of an NFL player is just three and half years? That means Wilson is just a half-season away from the average, and he plays a position that is dangerous when you think he’s just a little over five-foot-10 and is being chased on game-days by humungous and very angry defenders who don’t want to kill him but at the very least want to make him feel them.
I’m kind of in the center with Wilson. I think he should get all he can upfront just because I’m a union guy who believes we all deserve more than our employers want to pay us. When I first got to the Bremerton Sun in 1970 as a sportswriter I took a drastic cut in pay from my previous job as a business manager/estimator. I was being paid beggar’s wages, but I loved being a writer. I had found my vocation.
Three plus years into my years at the old BS I helped negotiated a union contract and when it was signed my salary tripled. I could finally replace my worn out shoes.
So if anybody knows that pay counts and you should be paid richly for the sweat equity you give your employer, it is me. Wilson, I hope he gets $100 million guaranteed.
I also, though, sense a different side to Wilson then he portrays. We all want our football stars to be loyal to us and I’m not sure Wilson is. Sure, I know he riffs on Christian thought on Twitter, which fits me because I think I’m a highly spiritual person who not only has faith that there is a God, but I know that for a face.
But my gut tells me he would split in a second to some other team without a second thought if he felt he could better himself. And there is nothing wrong with that, except the façade he puts up is geared to be all Seahawks. That’s why at the end of interviews he always says, “Go Hawks.”
I think, though, he would have no problem saying, “Go 49ers” if he saw a better deal in San Francisco.
Is he a phony like A-Rod? No, but I think he hides his true self, and lurking underneath his public stance is a personality that will do whatever it takes to better himself.
That’s why I believe Wilson is not here for the long term. He fits what Pete Carroll wants to do – run the ball and play tough defense – and Wilson has accepted the role of being that kind of quarterback who hands off to the Beast Mode.
What happens, though, when the Beast Mode finally calls it quits or gets hurt to the point he can’t be the Beast Mode? What then? Can Wilson re-invent himself as a pocket passer in a system that now throws the ball more than passes it?
And if he doesn’t have the Beast Mode, his lack of height will hurt him as a pocket passer and force him to run more. That, in turn, could lead to serious injury from those humungous and angry defenders.
That’s my thought for this sweltering day in the Pacific Northwest (reaching 90 on Saturday, June 27).
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.