The 2015 NFL preseason has been filled with season ending injuries, suspensions and training camp fights. One thing that has not been overlooked by NFL fans and analysts is Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor‘s contract situation. Chancellor, the six-year veteran out of Virginia Tech signed a four-year, $28 million contract extension in 2013, but wants a new contract as he is currently holding out of training camp.
Since Chancellor signed his extension in 2013, the Seahawks have gone back to the Super Bowl and other members of the Legion of Boom such as Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman have received new deals.
Thomas signed a four-year, $40 million contract extension on April 28, 2014, while Sherman signed a four-year, $56 million contract extension a month later. Both Thomas and Sherman are making more guaranteed money than Chancellor. Chancellor is only receiving $7.8 million guaranteed and coming into this season he is only making $4.5 million.
Now in terms of this season, there are 13 other strong safeties making more guaranteed money than Chancellor. With all of these factors in play, the Seahawks’ front office is now in a tough spot as Jeff Diamond of the Sporting News points out in his latest article.
Diamond, the former president of the Tennessee Titans and former vice president/general manager of the Minnesota Vikings, says that this can go two ways for Seahawks. Either Chancellor ends his holdout before the season begins or the Seahawks could trade him away because giving a player a new deal with three years left on his contract is out of bounds.
With that being said, let’s ponder the second scenario of the Seahawks trading Chancellor. If GM John Schneider wants to go that route, I believe there are three teams that could use Chancellor’s services right away.
1. Houston Texans
The Houston Texans could use a veteran strong safety in their secondary as on Friday, they released former Giant Stevie Brown. With Brown gone, Andre Hal, who is a second-year corner out of Vanderbilt is the leading candidate to be the starting strong safety. In Sunday’s third preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, Hal got the start and finished the game with six combined tackles.
If I am the Texans I would be calling Schneider because they do not have a playmaker at strong safety just serviceable depth. Adding a player like Chancellor on a defense that boasts J.J. Watt and Vince Wilfork on the defensive line and Jonathan Joseph, Kareem Jackson and Rahim Moore in the secondary could help them compete with the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC South.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Staying in the south but going over to the NFC, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are looking to take that next step forward towards a winning season. With already having the pieces on offense including number one overall pick Jameis Winston, head coach Lovie Smith just needs his defense to play up to par.
The Bucs defense is already scary with Gerald McCoy at defensive tackle and Lavonte David and Bruce Carter leading the linebacker corps. But the secondary has a couple of question marks at both safety spots. Currently, the Bucs have Bradley McDougald at the free safety, with Major Wright at the strong safety. Last season in his first year with Tampa, Wright played in 12 games (started in seven games) and had 51 total tackles. That is not the type of production the Bucs cannot afford to have this season if they want to win the NFC South.
If Lovie Smith could add Chancellor to the secondary it would solve one of the question marks at safety and it would get rid of the bad taste that Dashon Goldson and Mark Barron left in the mouths of Bucs fans.
3. Chicago Bears
Finally, the last team that could use Chancellor is the Chicago Bears. The Monsters of the Midway need a lot of help on defense and Chancellor could help in their secondary. Currently, the Bears are rolling out Antrel Rolle at the strong safety with rookie Adrian Amos, who they drafted in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft threatening to win the job.
With a defense that is currently transitioning to a 3-4 like the Bears, playing a rookie at strong safety in a division that has two high-powered offenses in the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions is very dangerous. Instead, if they had Chancellor, he would be able to patrol center field and help the secondary not to get exposed.
To wrap-up, do I see Kam Chancellor getting moved before the regular season starts? It is a strong possibility if the Seahawks do not cave to his demands. But if you are the Seahawks can you afford to let go Chancellor? He is one of the stabilizing forces in the Legion of Boom and it’s not easy to replace a playmaker, who has four interceptions, 160 tackles, and two forced fumbles over the last two seasons.
It will be interesting to see what will happen in Seattle as they are in the driver’s seat to win the NFC West once again.
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