Fooch's Note: Given the size of the contract for the 49ers chief rival, I figured I'd move this FanPost to the front page
Latebreaking news: Earl Thomas is now the highest paid safety in the NFL (per NFL.com), pulling in a contract worth $40 Million over 4 years ($27.7 Million in guaranteed money), roughly doubling his cap hit, which was at $5.473 Million for 2014. As I mentioned in my previous FanPost, DICK Sherman is rumored to be in contract talks and Ian Rappaport is reporting that he could command nearly $12 Million per year on his extension. That would bump DICK's cap hit from about $1.5 Million to...well... almost $12Million.
Best guess is that Russell Wilson is also in line for a huge extension, most likely in the higher end of the range we've discussed Colin Kaepernick receiving (likely $18-22 Million per year on a 5-6 year extension). The Hobbit's current contract has him with a cap hit of only $817k this season.
Doing the math, Seattle is poised to saddle itself with $35 - 40 Million per year in contract extensions (assuming that DICK gets $10 Mill/year, RW gets $20 Mill/year, and Earl Thomas is adding $5 Mill). I'm all for Seattle overpaying their guys! :) But, I suppose, they have the cap space needed to offer these types of deals...at least for now.