Sebastian Janikowski's $1.015 million base salary with the Seahawks is the minimum for a player who's been in the NFL as long as he has, but a $600,000 signing bonus seems like a sign the team feels good about his progress from the back injury that sidelined him in 2017.
Sebastian Janikowski's contract with the Seahawks is for one year and $2.015 million, according to a source. The breakdown: $1.015 million base salary, a $600,000 signing bonus, a $100,000 bonus if he's on the 53-man roster Week 1 and $300,000 in per-game active roster bonuses.
Seahawks GM John Schneider told reporters Monday that Kam Chancellor will have another scan in late June or early July. That could provide more information on the career-threatening neck/spine injury Chancellor suffered last November. The team had no update on defensive lineman Malik McDowell, whose football future is also uncertain because of a head injury that kept him from playing as a rookie last season.
Pete Carroll said Monday the Seahawks have not closed the door on the possibility of adding quarterback Colin Kaepernick to their roster.
"I don't feel like we've done ... a good enough job of continuing to acquire quarterbacks," GM John Schneider said. How might Seattle remedy that?
The Seahawks have one pick in the first three rounds and a history of moving back to acquire picks. So why might they sit tight?
Seahawks reporter Brady Henderson is up early looking at the holes Seattle will hope to fill for the NFL Draft.
The number of 1pm ET (or earlier) games for west coast teams is a frequently a concern. This season, the Rams have 2, 49ers and Seahawks have 3, the Chargers have 4, and the Raiders have 5. As for Mountain time zone teams, the Cardinals and Broncos each have 4.
Travel distances can have a slight effect on team fortunes. This season, Oakland, Seattle, and the Chargers each travel about 30,000 round trip miles. At the other end of the spectrum are Carolina, Atlanta, Cincinnati, and the Jets who each travel fewer than 10,000 miles.
An interesting travel nugget from ESPN Stats & Information: The closest NFL city to Seattle is Oakland, which is 801 miles away (San Francisco is listed at 807 miles). The Seahawks play the Raiders on the road in 2018, but it's in London -- 4,789 miles from Seattle. So the shortest possible trip for the Seahawks is instead the longest by far.
From ESPN Stats & Information: Since 2012, Russell Wilson's rookie season, the Seahawks' home winning percentage of .792 is second in the NFL only to New England's .833. The Seahawks play four of their final five games at CenturyLink Field in 2018.
Why was Seahawks general manager John Schneider scouting top quarterback prospects when he already has Russell Wilson? He explained a few of the reasons Thursday. Schneider mentioned how the Packers, his old team, would routinely add QBs even when Brett Favre was in his prime. He also revisited Aaron Rodgers' draft-day story as a lesson in due diligence. "I was in Green Bay when Aaron Rodgers fell, right?" Schneider said. "Aaron Rodgers was supposed to be the first pick in the draft, and we weren't necessarily as prepared as we should have been for him to fall. When you get to draft day, you want to just make decisions [quickly], like you're totally prepared. Quite frankly, when we acquired Aaron that day, we had to make some more calls during the draft, which you never really want to do. Like, 'Why is he falling?' That sort of thing. So you never know what's going to happen."
A monumental roster turnover coupled with the league's fifth toughest schedule makes a return to postseason a difficult task for the Seahawks.
While Seahawks general manager John Schneider said he's been told by Earl Thomas' representatives that Thomas won't hold out, Schneider was noncommittal about the All-Pro free safety's future in Seattle. Asked if Thomas will be on the team, Schneider said: "He is right now. I mean, he's on our roster." Will he be there come September? "I hope so," Schneider said. "Yeah, I hope he is. He's under contract."
Despite missing the playoffs last season, the Seahawks will play the maximum five prime-time games -- plus a London game -- in 2018.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider wouldn't say if the team asked Colin Kaepernick whether or not he'd kneel for the national anthem next season. ESPN reported last week that the Seahawks postponed a workout with Kaepernick after he declined to say he would stop kneeling. "That's what I can't get into," Schneider said. "That's stuff that, not just Colin, anybody we're bringing in. This is a free-agent workout that we're talking about. Obviously it's pretty controversial. I understand that. But anybody that we bring in, there's a number of different things we go through, tons of different categories in the background before we bring guys in."
Seahawks general manager John Schneider was asked about the NFL Network's report that the team plans to waive defensive lineman Malik McDowell. He didn't confirm that plan, saying things are "ongoing." McDowell, last year's top pick, didn't play as a rookie after injuring his head in a summer ATV accident. "That's ongoing," Schneider said. "We're still waiting on some guidance on that, but Malik was involved in a terrible accident and it's an unfortunate thing." Schneider had no new information on strong safety Kam Chancellor or defensive end Cliff Avril, who suffered career-threatening neck injuries last season.
Dwight Freeney knows his play paved the way for "undersized" ends and impacted the game.
A significant note regarding the Earl Thomas situation: Seahawks general manager John Schneider said he was told by Thomas' representatives that Thomas won't hold out if he doesn't get a new deal. Schneider said he last spoke with Thomas' people at the scouting combine.
Here's the 2018 Seattle Seahawks regular season schedule: WEEK 1 (Sept. 9) at Denver Broncos, 4:25 p.m. ET; WEEK 2 (Sept. 17) at Chicago Bears, 8:15 p.m. ET; WEEK 3 (Sept. 23) vs. Dallas Cowboys, 4:25 p.m. ET; WEEK 4 (Sept. 30) at Arizona Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. ET; WEEK 5 (Oct. 7) vs. Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m. ET; WEEK 6 (Oct. 14) at Oakland Raiders (in London), 1 p.m. ET; WEEK 7 - BYE; WEEK 8 (Oct. 28) at Detroit Lions, 1 p.m. ET; WEEK 9 (Nov. 4) vs. Los Angeles Chargers, 4:05 p.m. ET; WEEK 10 (Nov. 11) at Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m. ET; WEEK 11 (Nov. 15) vs. Green Bay Packers, 8:20 p.m. ET; WEEK 12 (Nov. 25) at Carolina Panthers, 1 p.m. ET; WEEK 13 (Dec. 2) vs. San Francisco 49ers, 8:20 p.m. ET; WEEK 14 (Dec. 10) vs. Minnesota Vikings, 8:15 p.m. ET; WEEK 15 (Dec. 16) at San Francisco 49ers, 4:05 p.m. ET; WEEK 16 (Dec. 23) vs. Kansas City Chiefs, 8:20 p.m. ET; WEEK 17 (Dec. 30) vs. Arizona Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. ET
Seahawks left tackle Duane Brown, who's entering the last year of his contract, was asked where things stand as far as a possible extension. "Haven't gotten into that," he said. "I'm not focused on that right now. I'm just trying to continue to work with the guys, continue to make myself as big and fast and strong as possible heading into training camp, and I think everything will take care of itself." Brown spoke before an event for GM John Schneider's charity, Ben's Fund.
Some resolution around the All-Pro safety should come soon, since draft stock would be the desired return. Here's a closer look at where things stand.
The Seahawks-Raiders game in London on Oct. 14 will kick off at 10 a.m. PT on FOX.
The Super Bowl champion Eagles' trip to London has been set for Oct. 28 as part of Week 8, the NFL announced Thursday.
| TEAM | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 11 | 5 | 0 | .688 | 478 | 329 |
| Seattle | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 366 | 332 |
| Arizona | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 295 | 361 |
| San Francisco | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 331 | 383 |
