Is Russell Wilson’s $60M Actually Guaranteed?

On Friday former NC State quarterback Russell Wilson signed a 4-year extension with the Seattle Seahawks worth $87.6 million.  It was initially reported that $60 million, 68.5% of his contract, was guaranteed.

Not so fast.

There is a difference between “fully guaranteed” money and money that is “guaranteed” for “injury only.”

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com explained how this works in Wilson’s contract.

Per a source with knowledge of the terms, the $31 million signing bonus and the $700,000 base salary for 2014 are fully guaranteed. The rest of the guaranteed money is guaranteed for injury only.

Which makes it not really “guaranteed.”

On the fifth day of the 2016 waiver period, Wilson’s $12.342 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed. On the fifth day of the 2017 waiver period, Wilson’s $12.6 million base salary becomes fully guaranteed. On the fifth day of the 2018 waiver period, $4.9 million of Wilson’s base salary of $15.5 million becomes fully-guaranteed. (ProFootballTalk)

I don’t see a headline of “Seahawks Waive Wilson” in the future, but it is interesting that the owners aren’t “guaranteed” to pay all the “guaranteed” money.