(Reuters) - Safety Kam Chancellor, who sat out the first two games of the season because of a contract dispute, gave the Seattle Seahawks a much needed boost on Wednesday when he reported for duty, the National Football League team said.
Chancellor, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who is one of the hardest hitters in the league, had been seeking an increase in his 2015 salary while the Seattle management maintained they would not give in to his demands.
The standoff proved to be costly for both sides with the Seahawks, Super Bowl champions in February 2014 and runners-up last season, losing their first two games and Chancellor forgoing some $2 million in wages.
However, according to the NFL Network, Chancellor was returning to the team with or without a new deal.
"It really has never been a negotiation; it's been conversations," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll told reporters after the team fell to 0-2 after Sunday's 27-17 loss to the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
"I'm just disappointed, like I know he is and everybody is, that it hasn't found a way to get him here ... we need to get him in."
Chancellor, 27, has reached three Pro Bowls in his five years with Seattle as his special blend of size and strength proved indispensable.
He signed a five-year contract extension worth nearly $30 million in 2013 but has since watched the Seahawks splash the cash on quarterback Russell Wilson, rusher Marshawn Lynch and linebacker Bobby Wagner.
During Chancellor's holdout, the Seahawks played their first two games with Dion Bailey and DeShawn Shead starting at strong safety and Bailey gave up a late game-tying score in the season-opening 34-31 overtime loss to the St Louis Rams.
The much vaunted 'Legion of Boom' secondary has sorely missed the bruising impact play of Chancellor and Seattle now sits bottom of the NFC West.
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)
