John Curley: Big mistake to guarantee Seahawks Richard Sherman so much money

While there’s virtually unanimous acclaim for the Seahawks record-setting signing of cornerback Richard Sherman, a seeming lone voice in wilderness says Paul Allen and company shouldn’t have been so quick to guarantee Sherman so much money.

Leave it to KIRO Radio’s John Curley to question the wisdom of a contract that pays Sherman $57.4 million. It’s not so much the dollar amount as the $40 million guarantee, Curley says.

“If you give someone a guarantee, someone is a tenured individual, they don’t seem to care as much,” he says.

If Curley had his way, he would have put in a lot more incentives that would pay Sherman top dollar for a certain number of interceptions and such.

“As somebody that used to be in sales on straight commission, nothing makes you work harder than the fact that you don’t have a guaranteed dollar,” Curley says. “What makes you work harder than job paranoia?”

Clearly, people slightly smarter than Curley, like Pete Carroll and John Schneider, aren’t too worried about Sherman slacking off. And Curley’s cohort Tom Tangney agrees with them.

“This will make him want to prove himself even more, that this salary is justified,” Tangney says. “He is one guy I don’t doubt will play up to snuff. Knowing he’s a trash talker – he’ll want to live up to it.”

Producer Bryan raises an interesting theory as well, arguing Sherman will actually play even harder because his guarantee means he doesn’t have to worry about getting hurt.

Regardless, there’s also another important point. If the Seahawks hadn’t shown Sherman the money, somebody else most certainly would have when he became a free agent next year.

But Tangney is confident the contract will actually inspire Sherman to strive for even higher accomplishments, if for no other reason than to continue proving he is the best.

“He doesn’t want to just be the highest paid cornerback, he wants to have five Super Bowl rings. When he retires, he wants to be acclaimed as the greatest cornerback of the game. Richard Sherman will drive to that end as much as he can,” Tangney says.