With this new deal, Russell Wilson has the chance to become the greatest athlete in Seattle's sporting history.

Russell Wilson's question is now turning dramatic.

The quarterback and the Seahawks agreed to extend their contract late Monday night / early Tuesday morning. The unseemly part is over: the endless debate about the money guarantee and the percentage of the salary cap as well as Wilson's real desire in Seattle. All this was solved, as it was almost inevitable despite the uproar, and they announced a new deal as the healthy-minded world slept soundly.

Now it's a legacy, and what has the potential to be an event as ornate and eternal as Seattle's sporting history.

Wilson will be a Seahawk, virtually guaranteed, until 2023. This gives him 12 seasons of his golden age, until the age of 35, to hone his skills. And that gives him five more seasons – at least – to improve what is already a summary for the ages. Then we'll see what happens after that.

It's hard to know – and we do not have to think about it, except for a theoretical exercise – how decisive the failure of the negotiations would have been. But he was likely to become pretty ugly pretty quickly. It is easy to envision a climate of mistrust and uncertainty as Wilson moved year after year to an independent start after 2021.

Or earlier, if the Seahawks had felt compelled to exchange Wilson to make sure to have something for the quarterback before he left. That could have been even greater motivation after he had ensured security, Earl Thomas, his relations with management, blocked by a contractual impasse, leave without the Seahawks can negotiate any agreement.

Thomas is an instructive comparison, actually. A great legacy of Seattle has been compromised in one way or another by all the bad bargains and bad will they have created. I firmly believe that time will appease these wounds and that Thomas will eventually be welcomed into the Seahawks as a hero. But his luck for an unblemished legacy was ruined.

Now, Wilson has that chance, a free kick at an unsoiled immortality of Seattle. He has already led the Seahawks to their first and up to now single championship. That alone should allow him to spend his whole life in the sanctuary of Seattle's sporty titans, although it's always felt like the Seahawks' defense is the true thrust of this Super Bowl title.

The defeat of the Seahawks at the Super Bowl next year, through an unfortunate interception caused by a misguided call to play, will always weigh on Wilson. Two consecutive titles, which should have been the fate of the Seahawks when they were two and a half goals from the starting line, would have elevated him to the status of demi-god.

Instead, Wilson still has the solitary ring, plus seven years of brilliant quarterback – despite a mediocre offensive line during most of those seasons. Marshawn Lynch running back has evolved, along with most of the much vaunted defense, as well as the entire Legion of Boom. Wilson remains, after winning more games in his first seven seasons than any quarterback in NFL history and arguably playing his best season.

The Seahawks surrendered their franchise to Wilson, who will be 30 years old at the start of the season in September. This new contract only reinforces this distinction. And many people believe that they should now release Wilson, freeing him from the offensive strings imposed on him by coach Pete Carroll and his running philosophy.

The counterpoint is that this strategy led Wilson to his most efficient season (110.9 QB and 35-27 interception touchdowns) in 2018. She also brought Seattle back to the playoffs after an absence of 39. ;a year. , where this unshakable orientation burned them to the detriment of the Cowboys.

It will now be up to Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to maximize Wilson's skills. It will be even more difficult for the Seahawks' front office to build a team around Wilson to bring back to the promised land.

Of course, from the moment Wilson signed his $ 140 million extension for four years, with his $ 65 million signing bonus and $ 107 million guaranteed capital, this task has become more in more difficult.

This is the calculation of the modern NFL. But as painful as the mega-contracts of elite quarterbacks become, they are preferable to the alternative. As easy as pleading for the Seahawks to negotiate Wilson and build around a cheaper young quarterback – as they once did, with a stunning effect, with Wilson himself – such a strategy is fraught with pitfalls. Just ask the countless teams in perpetual quest and futile to look for their franchise quarterback.

The most prudent route is the one chosen by the Seahawks, which is not to let it escape once you've found it. The Seahawks will have to be creative and daring to be part of the team around Wilson. They will begin to understand how to keep linebacker Bobby Wagner and defenseman Frank Clark in the group.

Beyond that, Wilson will have the time and space to reinforce his already special place in Seattle's sporting stratosphere. The choice to stay on the long run comes with bonus points, as essentially did Wilson.

Oh, Wilson could still leave when this contract comes to an end, but it would be for twilight years. The heart of his career will be played where he started. And around midnight on April 15, Russell Wilson left his heart in Seattle.