“Building a castle is difficult. Defending and maintaining it is harder still.” — Asian Proverb
On Monday, Seattle Seahawks Coach Pete Carroll stated in an interview that the first meeting for the 2014 season starts tomorrow (meaning Tuesday). That’s good. As every Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl runner-up knows, defending your title is harder than earning it in the first place.
Young and good
There’s a lot of reason for optimism about the current and future Seattle Seahawks. According to Chase Stuart of Pro Football Reference, the Seahawks are the second-youngest team to reach the Super Bowl (just behind the 1971 Miami Dolphins). The team’s average age across the roster is 26.4 years old as of February, 2014. USA Today ranked the Seahawks as the fourth-youngest team in 2013 at the start of the season.
Good is good. Young and good is even better. Young and great … now you’re talking about the 2013/14 Seattle Seahawks.
The youthful Seahawks climbed to the peak of the NFL pile riding the NFL’s No. 1-ranked overall defense and the No. 1-ranked passing defense. The Seahawks defense led the league in total takeaways, interceptions and turnover differential. They accomplished this despite a season-long sub-mediocre (26th-ranked) passing game — aided considerably by their fourth-best rushing attack.
Nuthin’ fancy
The secret to the Seahawks’ success is no secret: it’s simple, straightforward defense and running the ball, punctuated by nabbing more turnovers than the other guys. More often than not the Seahawks weren’t fancy. They were just good. Sometimes, that meant they were merely “good enough,” like when they received scares on the road at the hands of the hapless Houston Texans and the pesky Kellen Clemons-led St. Louis Rams.
No matter. The Seahawks prevailed enough to earn their No. 1 seed path to the Super Bowl, making it look easy in the final game of the season against the supposedly dominant Denver Broncos. Their simple formula of fielding the most talented secondary, a careful, hard-running offense and consistently winning the turnover differential, remained their modus operandi throughout the season.
That’s about as fundamental as you can get.
Copycat league
The Seahawks’ brand of football will be copied. All Super Bowl winners find their success dissected and emulated. This year, the copycats will probably come up empty. The Seahawks dominated the 2013 season by the simplest of formulas: our guys are better than yours. It’s not scheme, it’s talent. For the would-be copycats, developing talent top-to-bottom throughout your roster takes more than one offseason.
The Seahawks do not try to outsmart or fool their opponents. They line up their athletes and let them make plays. They were successful at this because the Seahawks football organization, led by General Manager John Schneider and Carroll, drafted well and in one single case, overly well, and filled in what roster gaps remained with smart, hungry, mid-priced veterans.
The roster was constructed in the wisest and luckiest of ways: draft and develop. Many teams try; not all succeed. The Seahawks succeeded because their roster is young — i.e. cheap and under contract — in addition to be supremely talented. That’s the wise way. Luck is the other factor.
If it wasn’t obvious to you who I meant by my statement that the Seahawks drafted “overly well,” I meant quarterback Russell Wilson. The second-year wunderkind, the new king of the Super Bowl, parades and late night TV, was arguably the greatest draft day steal of recent memory. Snagged in the third round, Wilson has grossly outperformed his modest contract — a factor that looms large in the Seahawks’ plans to become a dynasty.
Why? Well, Russell’s meager third-round draft pick salary will be renegotiated just as soon as the ink dries on the 2014 season. NFL rules prohibit renegotiating a rookie salary until the player has completed three seasons. The Seahawks are lucky the renegotiation restriction isn’t just two years. “Hey, Russell. What have you done for us lately? Oh, that’s right. You won the Super Bowl.” Ding, ding, ding!
Clearly, Wilson should be locked up long term. What is also clear is that Wilson is too valuable to play at his minimum NFL wage, for risk of a catastrophic injury that could render him a shell of a player with no financial protection. Wilson is prevented from cashing in now, but if he could he would make major coin. After one more season, he’ll almost certainly command even more.
Fun with Paul Allen’s money
Fair is fair and Wilson has earned a new contract. It makes sense for Wilson and the Seahawks, who would probably gladly lock him up long-term right now, if they could. The difficulty is this: Wilson’s new contract may pay in the neighborhood of $15 million a season. Maybe even north of that. That’s what top-tier QBs are making. The Utmost top-tier-by-pay quarterbacks (Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler, Tony Romo) make even more.
Currently, Wilson is not even in the top 50. His contract paid $526,217 in 2013. He’s almost not even in the top 50 on the Seahawks (44th). The upshot of Wilson’s next contract is that the Seahawks’ expertly crafted roster is about to lose about $14+ million in cap space — from Wilson alone.
Not sure that matters? Well, $14 million bought these guys:
· Michael Bennett ($3M)
· Cliff Avril ($1.5M)
· Michael Robinson ($2.5M)
· Tony McDaniel ($840K)
· Clinton McDonald ($1.3M)
· Paul McQuistan ($3M)
· Chris Maragos ($1.3M)
· Tarvaris Jackson ($840K)
While Wilson’s payday will have to wait one more season, he is not the only key player in line for a post-Super Bowl payday: Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas are likely to get new deals this offseason. Both are arguably the best at their positions, so they will command top dollar. The Seahawks’ secondary is about to become very expensive. The NFL’s current top-compensated cornerback (Darrelle Revis) earns $13 million a year. The top safety (Troy Polamalu) makes $9.8 million a year. Receivers Golden Tate and Johnathan Baldwin are both free agents and will be looking to score fat new contracts. Also due for new deals this offseason: starters Breno Giacomini, Steven Hauschka and nickel Walter Thurmond.
Imagine all the people …
Can you imagine the Seahawks roster without many, if not most of these players? You may have to. Do you think the team would have been so well-stocked in 2013 if it weren’t for the fortuitous salary situations of star players Wilson, Sherman, Thomas, Tate and Baldwin, who all make peanuts for their positions?
Even if the Seahawks did not win the Super Bowl, each of these five stars would be looking for major paydays right now. Add on the Super Bowl shine, and their price tags go up.
Which means the Seattle Seahawks are about to come back to salary cap reality. The perfect storm is over. Fortunately, for those 49ers watchers out there, the not-so-friendly team in red and gold down south will also have to pay their quarterback this offseason.
Seahawks fans would be wise to hold off on buying any Seahawks dynasty commemorative plates just yet. We need to wait and see how the Seattle Seahawks of 2014 and 2015 will be able to construct their roster, now that they’re going to be in the same boat as the rest of the NFL, again.
Julian Rogers is a freelance writer, communications consultant and owner of Juju Eye Communications. Follow him on Twitter (@mrturophile), or connect with him on LinkedIn and Google+.
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