Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor may hold out of training camp

It’s no rest for the tired if you’re John Schneider.

The Seattle Seahawks have restructured some deals in the past, most notably with Zach Miller and Leroy Hill, but in those cases it worked against the players long-term standing with the team. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Seahawks All Pro safety Kam Chancellor wants a raise, and is “strongly considering a camp holdout to make it happen”. But with his hard-hitting style and the myriad injuries he’s been having – a hip surgery before last season, bone spurs in his feet for which he contemplated surgery last September, balky ankles and knees, then a medial-collateral ligament injury two days before February’s Super Bowl for which he avoided surgery – Chancellor is likely seeking Marshawn Lynch-like, additional guaranteed money while he can.

It appears that everyone is doing that anyway. He makes far less than Dashon Goldson, who washed out with the Buccaneers after signing a huge deal and was traded to Washington for a sixth round pick this offseason. That deal made Thomas the highest paid safety in the league on an average-per-year basis. Former agent and CBS Sports reporter Joel Corry notes that he’s near the top of the strong safety market, though.

According to The Seattle Times, Chancellor signed a five-year extension in April 2013, worth $35 million over five years with $17 million in guaranteed money.

This is bad news because it is unlikely that the Seahawks can pay Chancellor if they resign middle linebacker Bobby Wagner and starting quarterback Russell Wilson.

Whereas Michael Bennett’s desire to redo his deal this off season never really reached high level fear factor because he’s only a year into a 4 year pact, a Chancellor holdout may provide the first real test to the Seahawks organizational philosophy about not renegotiating with more than a year left on a player’s contract.

The penalty for holding out of training camp is $30,000 per day.