The Seattle Seahawks seems to be a petrie dish for unhappy players who feel underpaid. Kam Chancellor is holding out for nearly four weeks, and Michael Bennett seem to have it out for quarterbacks around the league, feeling jealous and underpaid.
Bennett signed a four-year, $28.5 million deal in 2014, and is already hoping that someone in the organization listens to him and gives him a pay raise. Chancellor signed a similar contract not too long ago, but the raises around the league and within the team made him turn to a hold out option very quickly.
Bennett isn’t going in that direction. He’s playing. It’s his job. But he’s unhappy about being underpaid in his opinion, and very frustrated with quarterbacks getting more money than they’re worth (according to him), putting an emphasis on the number of games they’ve won.
Quarterback is the only position in the NFL where you could be mediocre and get paid. At every other position, you can’t be mediocre. If I was Ryan Tannehill and the most games I ever won was seven, how could you get a $100 million for that? I guess that’s the value of the position. And then it’s like, you’re sitting at home and there’s breaking news and it says that Brian Hoyer is the quarterback of the Texans. I’m like, who cares? That’s not breaking news. It’s really not breaking news.
Money isn’t the only thing bothering Bennett. He doesn’t understand why quarterbacks make the headlines all the times, and why they’re getting extra protection from the league when it comes to tackling and getting hit.
There’s some mediocre quarterbacks in the NFL that make a lot of money. You take a guy like Sam Bradford — he’s never played really in the last three years, but he’s made more money than most guys in the NFL. Then quarterbacks get protected more than any other player. I mean, he gets hit in his knees and he’s about to cry. They hit me in my legs.’ Everybody gets hit in their legs. Every play somebody tries to hit me in my legs. So what makes him different? What makes his life better than mine? I’ve got kids. I’ve got stuff I like to do on the weekend. But because he gets hit in his legs, he gets a flag. He gets up with a sad face like the world just ended because he got hit. I mean, you got hit in an NFL game. Who cares? Get back up and be like, ‘Good job.’ We’ve got guys in the NFL crying because they get hit. ‘Oh, Suggs hit me and I’m running the read-option.
Bennett also spoke about guys he likes, like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who don’t complain and simply get on with the next play after going down, although Brady is one of the biggest complainers, especially to the referees, there are in the league. I wonder if he knows Pete Carroll is on board with the whole read-option and extra protection thing. It’s also interesting to know how he feels about Russell Wilson, a read-option quarterback who makes more money than all but one player in the league.
I mean, I’m unhappy. But the thing is, this is my job and I can’t let my unhappiness trump my professionalism. I still have to be a professional and keep trying but go out there and make sure that I’m proving why I think I’m one of the best defensive players in the league. I’m like a wife that’s married to a guy, they have kids, and she can’t leave because she loves the kids,” he said. “I love the kids. Those are my teammates.