Kam Chancellor: Seahawks need to meet me half way

We learned early on Wednesday that Kam Chancellor is not at Seattle's headquarters and thus will miss this Sunday's game against the Rams. Pete Carroll voiced his displeasure with this, and Kam Chancellor replied. The All Pro has finally broken his silence on his holdout, speaking to NFL Network's Dan Hellie about the impasse with the Seahawks.

Here's what Hellie said on NFL Total Access (Per Kevin Shockey):

He told me he feels like this whole thing could be over by now. Kam says he has been willing to meet the Seahawks half way. He says the two sides are less than a million dollars apart at this point. He actually used the term "petty".

So, in a nutshell, he told me that he's not asking for more money, he wants the money to be moved from the 2017 season to next season (2016) with no additional money this season. I said, "hey Kam, what about re-doing a contract that still has three years left?" He told me that he doesn't want to wait until he's almost 30.

This new information really doesn't change anything in my mind. Kam's argument still ignores the fact that the Seahawks feel they cannot set a precedent in giving new deals to players that have only finished one year of a four-year contract extension. That would mean every player that has a good season or feels they're outplaying a contract could and likely would start holding out for more money, citing what the team did for Chancellor in 2015. This is the reason they've held firm against a player that they love and value highly.

As Mike Florio notes,

Chancellor says that all he's not asking for more money, he's just asking for some of his $6.8 million 2017 salary to be pushed into 2016. Of course, that actually is asking for more money: With inflation a dollar in 2016 is worth more than a dollar in 2017. And when the Seahawks signed Chancellor through 2017, they did so planning for the annual rise in the NFL salary cap. They can't just give in to every player who wants money pushed forward in his contract, or else they won't be able to fit under the salary cap in 2016.

It's still murky as to exactly what Chancellor's demands entail. The Seahawks could still move some things around and try to "meet him halfway," but as Ian Rapoport notes, their entire stance is based around avoiding precedent.

Rapoport said that the negotiations have been emotional, and they're not close now, but these things can turn quickly.