Just moments ago news broke through Kam Chancellor’s own Twitter feed that we was calling it a career.
Gods Grace 🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿 pic.twitter.com/60J2DugpD1
— Kameron Chancellor (@KamChancellor) July 1, 2018
In the tweet, Chancellor cites a problem in his neck that hasn’t healed to the point he can resume playing football. To protect himself, he’s moving on to the next stage of his life.
What it means for the Seahawks
Chancellor, along with fellow safety Earl Thomas, were the final members of Seattle’s Legion of Boom defensive backfield that was so dominant during the team’s Super Bowl runs a few seasons ago. Cornerback Richard Sherman was cut this offseason and signed by the Seahawks’ NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers. Brandon Browner, after stints with the New England Patriots and New Orleans Saints, hasn’t played a down since 2015.
If the depth chart holds, former Los Angeles Rams safety Mo Alexander will slide into Chancellor’s spot alongside Thomas. On the outside, new starting cornerback duo of Shaquill Griffin and Neiko Thorpe will not exactly blood-curdling group to face.
What it means for other players and teams
Chancellor will serve as a cautionary tale throughout front offices league-wide. He held out before the 2015 season just one year into a four-year extension he signed in 2014. The Seahawks didn’t blink and Chancellor missed training camp, the preseason and the first regular season game, which the Seaghawks lost to the then Jeff Fisher-coached St. Louis Rams.
Though Chancellor didn’t hold out again, his contract remained an issue and the team finally relented, signing him to a three-year, $36 million extension before last year. It’s a contract that former NFL Agent Joel Corry called the worst extension of the year back in January. It obviously looks even worse now.
.@KamChancellor announces he's played his last NFL game: https://t.co/JOTnMMpv8K pic.twitter.com/UpW9SAoJzE
— NFL (@NFL) July 2, 2018
Chancellor’s injury and subsequent retirement after a prolonged (years long) contract dispute will undoubtedly serve as a cautionary tale for other teams. When a player, with multiple years left on his current deal, starts the hold-out and contract talk, general managers will point at Chancellor and the Seahawks as a reason to stick to their guns and shut all that down. How many more examples to GMs need to just let a guy stew on his couch until he’s sick of paying fines?
What it means for Earl Thomas
Speaking of guys disgruntled with their current contract situation, Earl Thomas, the last man standing, is heading into the final year of his current deal and is in the midst of a hold out of his own. It’s not rare for a guy in his final contract season to remain in the man cave while a new agreement can be worked out, but with Chancellor’s announcement, that all could change.
On one hand, it could make Thomas more valuable to a Seahawks team that has shed its past stars all offseason. How deep down the talent hole is Seattle willing to go on what has to be a soft rebuild?
On the other hand, Seattle could just go ahead and lean into the rebuild altogether. That means they could toss Thomas up on the block, even for a discounted price, and send him packing from Grunge-town to sign a new deal elsewhere. Probably in the AFC. Thomas will make $10.5 million this season and I can’t see Seattle coughing up more than that on a per-year basis even if they want to keep him.
