Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor ends holdout
Kam Chancellor's return should go a long way towards fixing the Seattle Seahawks.
The Pro Bowl strong safety, who is ending his holdout and reporting to the defending NFC champs, not only sets the tone on the field but in the locker room for coach Pete Carroll.
Chancellor, who is 6-3 and 232 pounds, has the size of a linebacker. His ferocious hits — like the one he laid on Denver Broncos wideout Demaryius Thomas early in Super Bowl XLVIII — can immediately set a tone of intimidation from the famed Legion of Boom.
But Chancellor is also the rare safety who's effective in the box and in coverage. His 90-yard interception returned and touchdown against the Carolina Panthers in last season's divisional playoff round iced Seattle's win.
Off the field, Chancellor challenged his teammates after a disappointing 6-4 start in 2014. Seattle did't lose again until falling to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX.
Now he returns to a team that is 0-2 and has allowed the fourth-most points in the NFL after leading the league in scoring defense every year since 2012, so not a moment too soon.
The Seahawks, who played their first two games on the road, play three of their next four at CenturyLink Field and should get healthy against a battered Chicago Bears squad Sunday.
The big question now is whether Chancellor feels his financial outlook will get healthier, too. He is entering the second season of a four-year, $28 million extension, a deal Seattle did not want to renegotiate so early. However frontloading the deal with more guaranteed money, something Seahawks general manager John Schneider previously did for Marshawn Lynch, might mollify Chancellor.
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