By Tim Booth
The Associated Press
RENTON — Kam Chancellor has ended his holdout and reported to the Seattle Seahawks after missing training camp and the first two weeks of the regular season.
The Seahawks confirmed that Chancellor arrived at the team facility on Wednesday morning. It was his first appearance since June’s minicamp and ended a holdout that lasted nearly eight weeks. The Seahawks are 0-2 after losses to St. Louis and Green Bay. KIRO-AM in Seattle first reported Chancellor’s return.
Chancellor has potentially lost more than $2 million with a holdout that appears to have not resulted in a new contract. It is not clear how much he will be fined.
In a text to ESPN, Chancellor wrote that he intends on dealing with his “business” after the season and that it was time to go help his teammates.
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 three years 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.
