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Did Seahawks GM insinuate letting Russell Wilson leave is an option?

(AP)
(AP)

The thought was that once Russell Wilson could sign a huge contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks, he would.

Wilson has a 98.6 quarterback rating in three seasons. Seattle has won a Super Bowl with Wilson and only an incredible fourth quarter and New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler's great interception kept the Seahawks from winning a second.

Yet there's always been at least some question if Wilson is that good. The Seahawks have a great defense. Marshawn Lynch is the focus of the offense. And giving Wilson that massive contract would change the structure of the Seahawks, because he'd go from making one of the lowest salaries among starting quarterbacks to one of the highest. Seattle won in large part the past few years because its quarterback was cheap and they could use the excess money on other impact players. Wilson, a third-round pick in 2012, wasn't able to sign an extension until after his third season, per the collective-bargaining agreement.

But now the bill was due ... right?

An extension hasn't been signed yet and Seahawks general manager John Schneider had some odd comments to KIRO Radio in Seattle that made it sound like it's possible that Seattle won't give Wilson that deal. Here's what he said, via MyNorthwest.com and ESPN 710 Seattle:

"What I can tell you is that this is the ultimate team sport, we have a track record of rewarding our players that we recognize as core players," Schneider said. "We're going into our sixth draft now – I can't believe that; we've been here for a while now – but just that track record of being able to make those tough decisions. Every negotiation is unique in and of itself and this is no different. Ultimate team sport, he's our quarterback, we'd love him to be our quarterback. But the thing is, we need to keep as many of these guys together as we possibly can."

Tough decisions? Hmmm. To double down on the weirdness, Schneider mentioned having to make tough salary cap decisions in the past.

"I think you've seen over the last several years now a philosophy of competition at every position and trying to acquire as many players as you possibly can and to make it fit," Schneider said. "We've done this since Day 1. When we got here we had to make some very tough cap decisions with Cory Redding and Nate Burleson. They were two guys that we had a lot of respect for, but where we were on our cap at the time, we had to make decisions. And then we had a couple years without a cap and now we're back in a world with a salary cap and we need to be cognizant of that."

Let's be clear that Schneider's words are likely nothing more than your typical negotiating ploy (like, say, mentioning that you'd like to play baseball too). It's practically impossible to imagine the Seahawks not locking Wilson up to a contract extension that everyone figures he will get.

NFL teams don't let quarterbacks walk in their prime. The Chicago Bears, even though everyone who looked critically could tell Jay Cutler was an average starting NFL quarterback, still gave him one of the NFL's biggest contracts because that's just what NFL teams do. There's rarely any critical thinking when it comes to the quarterback position and its cost in regards to the cap. And even though the Seahawks are progressive, it would still be almost unprecedented if they didn't retain Wilson, who is entering the last year of his deal.

Wilson has been a highly productive and successful quarterback, and his arrival transformed the Seahawks into champions for the first time. He's just 26 years old. Realistically the Seahawks aren't going to let him go over salary-cap concerns. But it would be a heck of an interesting story if they did.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!