Why isn’t DK Metcalf’s new deal done yet? It fits Seahawks’ precedents from training camps

Pete Carroll and John Schneider have said they intend to keep DK Metcalf happy and on the Seahawks for as long as they can see.

This year, Metcalf declared “I’m not trying to leave.”

So why on the eve of players reporting Tuesday for training camp do the Seahawks not have a new contract done already?

What in the name of free-market economics is going on here?

It’s par for Seattle’s course.

In 12 years with Carroll and Schneider running the franchise, the Seahawks have consistently re-signed foundational players within a few days of training camp starting. That’s been true particularly with pillar players in their mid-20s they’ve drafted entering the final seasons of their rookie contracts.

That’s where Metcalf, 24, is now.

Plus, the last six weeks have been what it annually the quietest time around the Seahawks’ and NFL team facilities. From the end of offseason practices in mid-June to reporting day of training camp, players, coaches and staffers scatter with their families. It’s their last vacations and full weeks of time off until at least mid-January.

There’s simply no one around to get work done.

What it will take

It’s likely to take a new deal worth at least $25 million per season plus a large percentage of total value guaranteed up front to re-sign Metcalf. That’s the result of the NFL’s wide-receiver market exploding this spring.

A.J. Brown, Metcalf’s friend and college teammate from Mississippi, got a four-year, $100 million from the Philadelphia Eagles in April. Brown is also entering the final year of his rookie deal. He and Metcalf were in the same draft class, 2019. They have the same agent, Tory Dandy.

Brown’s deal with Philadelphia appears to be the comparable Metcalf’s negotiators are using with Seattle.

So when will the deal get done?

The urgency about Metcalf’s contract around the Pacific Northwest went up last month when he chose to stay away from the Seahawks’ mandatory minicamp. He remained away while rehabilitating from offseason surgery on his foot that had him in a walking boot through the winter.

Metcalf did that leverage move toward a new deal while it didn’t sting his pocket book. He is set to earn $3.99 million this year to end his rookie deal. The Seahawks aren’t bound to fine him a maximum of $90,000 for skipping the three-day minicamp; it’s at their discretion.

When asked last month at the end of the minicamp if the Seahawks would fine Metcalf, Carroll said: “We’re not going to talk about that.”

But if Metcalf would skip training camp, the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement mandates fines of $50,000 per day. By Wednesday, he’d already be in six figures of fines. Players in this non-guaranteed league aren’t in the business of giving away that much cash.

If the Seahawks’ pattern for these situations hold, he could have his new deal within a week.

The precedents

In their second summer running the franchise, Carroll and Schneider signed defensive tackle Brandon Mebane to his second Seahawks contract. It got done on July 29, 2011, camp reporting day. The first practice of that training camp was the next morning.

Russell Wilson signed his second Seahawks contract on July 31, 2015. That was on the first day of camp entering the final year of the quarterback’s rookie deal.

All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner re-signed with Seattle for his second NFL contract one day after Wilson got his, Aug. 1, 2015, two days into camp.

In 2017, another home-grown Seahawks star, safety Kam Chancellor, got his new contract done Aug. 1, on training camp’s third day.

In 2018, Pro Bowl left tackle Duane Brown signed his extension with Seattle on July 28, day three of that training camp.

There’s also a Seahawks precedent on what Metcalf, a Pro Bowl selection in 2020 when he set the Seattle season record with 1,303 yards receiving, would do if he and the team remain apart on the guaranteed money. Guarantees are usually the last and most difficult parts to complete on these new deals.

When it took a little longer for the Seahawks to finalize the numbers Jamal Adams wanted in his new contract last year, Adams “held in” from training camp. He showed up, to avoid the daily $50,000 fine. But Adams did not practice — not until the Seahawks agreed to make him the highest-paid safety in league history. That was last Aug. 17.

Metcalf may not get the richest deal at his position. Miami upped that ante this offseason trading for Tyreek Hill from Kansas City then giving him $30 million per year.

Then the Las Vegas Raiders signed Davante Adams from Green Bay for $28 million per season. Arizona’s DeAndre Hopkins averages $27.25 million per year. The Los Angeles Rams recently re-signed Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp for an average of $26.7 million.

A cost of $25 million-plus per year for Metcalf is more affordable for the Seahawks than it was at the start of this offseason. Trading Wilson to Denver means Seattle won’t have that massive contract next year. The specter of paying Wilson $50 million of more to stay beyond his deal ending with the 2023 season is gone, too.

Plus, the buying power for Seattle and every other NFL team is about to go up. Way up. The league’s new media-rights contracts kick in next year. That’s likely to raise the salary cap that was $182 million per team last year and is $208 million this year to above $220 million in 2023. Within a couple years, as the NFL taps into new revenue streams such as newly legalized gambling across the country, the cap could be $250 million.

By then, a re-signed Metcalf at $25 million per year while still in his 20s could be as good a Seattle bargain as Dick’s burgers.

Other than the one leverage play he had and used during minicamp, Metcalf has not been sending signals of discontent and unwillingness to get this done with the Seahawks.

In April, he reported to the team’s headquarters in Renton to begin offseason conditioning and continue rehabilitation his foot.

In May, Metcalf was confident this is all a matter not of if but when he will re-sign with the Seahawks.

“I will say, we are going to get something done,” Metcalf said on Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe’s podcast for Fox Sports.

“I think I am going to be in Seattle for the next coming years, yes, sir.”

If it’s not done when camp starts, history says it’s not likely to be too long after that.