Otto Greule Jr./Getty
Things aren't looking great for Kam Chancellor. The Seahawks' All-Pro safety has been holding out for over three weeks and reportedly refuses to report to training camp until his contract has been renegotiated.
Chancellor's holdout is already costing him a ton of money, and it'll only get worse the longer it drags on.
Right now, the Seahawks can fine Chancellor $30,000 for every preseason practice he misses, and they can now recoup 25% of his prorated signing bonus. Although Seattle can waive all fines the moment Chancellor reports to camp, as of right now they could technically fine him up to $850,000.
If the holdout reaches the regular season, the fines get steeper. As Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith noted, Chancellor could be fined $267,647 per week for an in-season holdout.
Chancellor's current contract set at $4.5 million per year, so $267,647 is - obviously - quite a bit of money to forfeit each week. With so much money on the line, then, Chancellor will be increasingly inclined to only report to camp if he can settle on a new contract that recuperates all possible fines, and them some.
But it's unclear exactly how any sort of deal will get done. As an organization, the Seahawks have a strict policy of only renegotiating players' contracts during the deal's final year and Chancellor still has three years left on his current contract. If Seattle breaks this rule for Chancellor, it could set a dangerous precedent going forward. Plus, the Seahawks are only $4 million below the salary cap after giving a handful of core players massive long-term deals. Even if they do decide to break their rule on renegotiation for Chancellor, there's not much money to give him - at least not immediately.
Right now it's a game of chicken and both sides are waiting for the only to flinch first. But with so much money on the line for Chancellor, it seems quite likely that at some point he'll have to swallow his pride and report back to camp, even if he doesn't have a new contract.