Kam Chancellor is officially signed through 2020 — one of 11 Seahawks signed that far out — but it looks like the Seahawks don’t necessarily expect him to play the entire deal.
The contract really looks like a one-year extension for the 29-year-old safety, whose body is more like 34 thanks to all of the hits and surgeries over Chancellor’s seven seasons. By the time the 2020 season starts, he will be 32 — and his body might be finished.
The three-year, $36 million extension touted $25 million in guarantees, but just $13 million is guaranteed this year. The rest is guaranteed for injury and becomes fully guaranteed only after the Super Bowl — probably spread over the next two or three years.
Chancellor was originally set to make $7.125 million in 2017, including $325,000 in per-game roster bonuses. Instead, he will be paid $13.24 million — $3 million in salary, a $10 million signing bonus and $243,000 in roster bonuses.
The deal actually lowered his 2017 salary cap hit from $8.1 million to $6.74 million. His $6.8 million salary was basically moved to 2018, when he will count $9.8 million.
His cap hit jumps to $13 million in 2019, when he is due a $10 million salary — and that’s where the Hawks will have to decide (probably five days after Super Bowl LIII) whether he is still worth it.
They could get out of the deal for a cap hit of $5 million in 2019. Of course, if Bam Bam Kam continues to bring the Boom for the Legion, the Hawks surely will be more than happy to pay him in 2019.
Bottom line: They will have to weigh Chancellor against the many other roster decisions they must make over the next two years.