Two games was all Kam Chancellor could take. After watching his Seattle Seahawks lose to the St. Louis Rams and Green Bay Packers, Chancellor ended his holdout by reporting to team headquarters on Wednesday morning.
Kam Chancellor is ready to help save the Seahawks from their 0-2 start
The safety ended his holdout on Wednesday morning.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
“I’m a big team guy, so it was very hard to watch because, not to take anything away from anyone here, but I know I could have made a difference in those games,” he said. “When my loved ones are in danger, I have to be me. I prayed about it yesterday, and I knew it was the right decision.”
He doesn’t plan on slowly working himself back into condition, either.
“I know I can play Sunday,” Chancellor said. “I’ve been in this defense for five years, and it is like clockwork for me at this time.”
When asked why he was so confident that he would be ready to face the Chicago Bears after missing training camp, the preseason and two regular season games, he had a simple answer: "I'm a fearless man."
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll wasn’t quite ready to say that Chancellor will take the field on Sunday, but he wasn’t ruling it out.
“Right now, we’re working on the assumption that he will play, but we’ll take it day by day and see how he responds to the workload,” Carroll said. “I can tell you right now that he is in magnificent shape. He’s 226 (pounds) with 6 percent body fat, and that’s just where he is at his best.”
Neither Chancellor nor Carroll would comment on any financial dealings that might have accelerated the return, but the three-time Pro Bowler said his biggest motivation was not wanting to miss any more games and that he would deal with his contract after the season was over.
“It was watching my teammates play without me, and hearing all of the text messages they were sending me,” he said on Wednesday afternoon. “That was really hard for me. These are my brothers, and I needed to be here.”
Chancellor acknowledged that he considered sitting out the entire season, but already knows he made the right choice because the locker room “greeted me with open arms.”
Carroll said that, after playing in two Super Bowls, he isn’t worried about his team getting bogged down over a holdout.
“There were certainly feelings about him not being here, because we missed him on the field and as a person,” Carroll said. “We love Kam, and we’re all thrilled that he’s back. This group has the discipline to never look back, and with Kam being here today, this is the perfect time to get excited about moving forward.”
While neither side was talking about contract negotiations, past or future, Carroll did have one encouraging thing to say to Seahawks fans.
“Kam will be with us for a long time,” he said. “He’s a great man who is an incredible part of our team, and we look forward to a long relationship.”
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SB Nation video archives: Chancellor’s huge play in playoff win (2015)
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