RENTON, Wash. — Kam Chancellor ended his holdout and reported to the Seattle Seahawks on Wednesday after missing training camp and the first two weeks of the regular season.
Chancellor arrived at the team facility early Wednesday, his first appearance since June’s minicamp. His holdout had lasted nearly eight weeks. The Seahawks are 0-2 after losses to St. Louis and Green Bay during his absence. KIRO-AM in Seattle first reported Chancellor’s return.
“It was hard to watch those games,” Chancellor said. “I’m just ready to play football.”
Seattle coach Pete Carroll said the team is planning for Chancellor to play Sunday against Chicago, but said that would be assessed as the week goes on.
Chancellor has potentially lost more than $2 million with the holdout that doesn’t appear to have resulted in a new contract. Carroll said the team would not discuss any of the business aspects of Chancellor’s return, including if any fines will be enforced.
Chancellor was in Los Angeles and decided Tuesday he was going to rejoin the team. He flew to Seattle that night.
Chancellor acknowledged he did consider holding out for the entire season.
“Those things I would rather deal with at the end of the season,” Chancellor said. “Right now it’s about coming back and playing football.”
Chancellor’s agent, Alvin Keels, posted on Twitter that he was glad to see Chancellor back at work and, “The business side of the sport sucks at times. Some will understand it most won’t!”
Seattle will have a two-week roster exemption for Chancellor, but he must be added to the active 53-man roster at least 24 hours prior to kickoff to play either this Sunday against Chicago or Monday, Oct. 5, against Detroit.
Chancellor was seeking a restructuring of his current contract to have future money paid sooner. It was part of a $28 million, four-year extension he signed after the 2012 season, but didn’t take effect until 2013. The Seahawks refused to budge on restructuring a contract that had so much time remaining, believing it would lead to a stream of players seeking new deals in the early stages of their contracts.
Chancellor, one of the league’s top safeties and a leader of the “Legion of Boom” secondary, is scheduled to make $5.1 million in base salary in 2016 and $6.8 million in 2017.
Defensive end Michael Bennett was in a similar situation, unhappy with his four-year contract he signed prior to the 2014 season, but decided to report for training camp and not hold out.
“In the NFL, one year you can be great, the next year you can be bad, so I just worry about the money situation,” Bennett said last week. “When you’re losing money in this league, you don’t get a chance to make as much money. Your earning power is now.”
Seattle started Dion Bailey at strong safety in the opener then switched the lineup and went with DeShawn Shead there against Green Bay.
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