Hola 12s!
Well the day has come and gone and we have the highest paid quarterback to show for it! This week, Russell and the Hawks signed a 4-year, $140 million deal. Now, there's some good and some bad to this in my opinion. Let's break it down.
Good:
Clearly, Russell is our franchise guy. He's been with us through the upswing, he led us to the only Super Bowl victory that we've been in, and he reshaped how our organization performes. Pete and John have shown that they are shaping how our team operates around Russell and I sincerely hope that they are looking to put proper tools around Russell this season to take us even further this year. That means drafting really well, making deals after the draft has passed and recognizing hidden talent. All of which Pete has shown that he is more than capable of doing, and on that subject, I choose to trust in the decisions that Pete makes. He's steered us right more often than not. He knows what he's doing.
Bad:
The glaring problem that this puts forward is that we're already struggling with the salary cap, and this doesn't make that situation any easier. We've been working with a discount front line for years on end (Granted, I was a lot happier with it last year) and we've got some play makers that are coming up on their contracts as well. Clark, Wagner, Reed, Kendricks, Fant, Brown among many others are finishing their contracts after the season next year, and if they perform this year like they did last year, each one of those players has earned the right to get paid. Russell's massive contract cuts into that bank pretty deep and could cause issues down the line. From the rumors that we've heard about there being a little favoritism when it comes to Wilson, this could push that limit a little further as well.
At this point, the contract is signed and we've got ourselves a pro-bowl quarterback for 4 more years at the helm, and there's some comfort in having an icon coming back to the gridiron each year. As always, I'm excited to see what Pete has up his sleeve and find out what the grand scheme is, but for that, we've got to wait a few more weeks! The draft is just a week away 12s! Starting Thursday the 25th! Talk to you then! With that...Mike Hawk is OUT!
