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Russell Wilson’s long-term status with the Seahawks was extremely unstable. Its short-term status has become obscure. There is one thing that could happen that would close the door on the rumor of a 2021 deal with Wilson.
As noted by Gregg Bell of Tacoma News Tribune, the Seahawks have a contractual right to restructure Wilson’s contract in order to create a hedging space. The not uncommon term (the Cowboys, for example, guaranteed this right in Dak Prescott’s new agreement) allows the team to convert salary and other compensation into a signature bonus that would be spread over several years, reducing the current year’s maximum amount .
Wilson has an upper limit of $ 32 million for 2021. He has a salary of $ 19 million this year, with another $ 13 million flowing from his $ 65 million 2019 signing bonus. The Seahawks could lower Wilson’s maximum number by reducing his salary to $ 1.075 million (the minimum for players with seven or more years of experience) and exchanging the remaining $ 17.925 million into a subscription bonus.
Distributing the bonus over the remaining three years of his contract, Wilson’s maximum number in 2021 would drop from $ 32 million to $ 20.05 million. (Adding one or two annulable years would take you further than that; it is not clear whether the restructuring right includes the right to add annulable years.)
Regardless of whether the Seahawks decide to kick the possible salary cap by restructuring Wilson’s business (they are currently more than $ 21 million below the 2021 ceiling), that would mean that he would not be being traded. Why would the Seahawks pay up to $ 17.925 million in salary before sending him to a new team?
Unless the new team added even more commercial compensation to inherit Wilson with a minimum wage and a maximum number of $ 1.075 million, the Seahawks have no reason to pay Wilson another cent until he is sure he will not be traded. So, if / when a restructuring happens, Wilson’s potential trading window will move to 2022 at the very least.