The prodigal safety has come home, choosing to postpone his personal battle against the franchise in the interest of helping the team get back to the Super Bowl.

It puts an end to a saga that has shown the Seahawks' newer fans that the NFL is not always a feel-good league.

Those new fans -- and there are many of them -- enjoyed the college-like camaraderie of these young Seahawks in 2012 and 2013 as the team ascended to a Super Bowl title.

But, the past year-plus, people have realized this is a business. They have had to watch Chris Clemons, Red Bryant, Golden Tate and others leave. They have seen the Seahawks make the colossal blunder of trading for and overpaying Percy Harvin.

They have seen huge contracts paid to Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner -- with some people unreasonably turned off by Wilson's extended negotiations. Fans have seen Bruce Irvin and Michael Bennett publicly pout about their contracts and -- the coup de grace -- Kam Chancellor miss two games just to drive home the point that he too is unhappy.

Most fans and neutral observers could not see the sense in Chancellor's stance -- holding out with three years left in a deal he signed two years ago. (Anyone who agreed with him was either kissing his ass or just stupid.)

The Seahawks had no incentive to give in to his demands/request -- and even a 0-2 start was not anything to worry about. Next year he will have two years left and -- if he plays well the rest of this season -- the Hawks probably will do something with his deal.

For now, the team is ecstatic to have him back.

"It’s been a long process getting him here. We’re really thrilled that he’s here," Carroll said. "He’s a big part of our program and he always has been. He’s a fantastic leader; he’s just one of the blood-and-guts (players) of this program and has been forever. So we’re thrilled to have him back, ready to go to work."

“I think it was that time," Chancellor said. "I talked to a few guys, got some great words from people. I just feel like the time was now. I’ve always been a guy who followed my heart, and just watching my teammates and my team play week to week, first and second game, watching those losses, it hurt me being the leader that I am. So I think the time is now to come back, put all business to the side, address that after the season and just get back to work.”

Chancellor made it clear he didn't want to let his teammates down any longer.

“It was more just watching my teammates playing in those games, and hearing the texts that they send me all the time and talking to them daily," he said. "I’m a big team guy, I’m a big brotherly guy, and when those dear to my heart, when I feel like they’re in danger, I just like to be who I am and be that leader.”

But will his teammates accept his leadership?  

"The guys have received him with open arms," Carroll said. "That doesn’t mean there wasn’t some feelings about it. It was a difficult time. It was a difficult time for us because we missed him so much and we care so much about him. It was hard knowing that he wasn’t here. But we’re fine about all of that, guys are excited to see him, he’s excited to be back and we just move forward.”

Chancellor said, "Everybody addressed me with open arms, and it just feels right. So you turn the page and you put business behind you, and it’s all about playing football now and getting wins.”

Richard Sherman said, "I don’t think anybody’s concerned about why now or what made him change his mind. I think people are just happy to have him in the building. … If there was any hard feelings, they’re going to handle that internally, but I don’t get a sense of that at all.”

As for Chancellor's position as a locker room leader, Sherman said, “I think his resume speaks for itself, and you don’t lose that from missing a few games.”

As for disillusioned fans, Chancellor said they didn't understand the situation and he forgives his critics (even as he has blocked tons of them on Twitter).

“You know people are going to make opinions when they don’t know your situation (and) they don’t know what exactly is going on," he said, before magnanimously adding, "So I forgive those who understand what’s going on and those who don’t understand what’s going on. Because if God can forgive, I can also. So I’m just looking forward to playing in front of the 12s and hearing them roar.”

Not sure those patronizing comments will win back many fans. It will be interesting to see the response he gets at the Clink on Sunday -- if he plays.

Chancellor is in great shape -- Carroll said the 6-foot-3 safety is 226 pounds and has 6 percent body fat -- but will he be in football shape in time to play Sunday?

“We’re going to go with the approach that he will play, but we’re going to take it one day at a time," Carroll said. "If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It’ll depend on how he responds to the workload, and we’re just going to gauge it."

Chancellor said, “I’ve been in the same defense for five years now, so it’s pretty much the same things; we never change. We run the same stuff all the time, so it’s like clockwork, it’s like taking a bicycle around again.

"Not taking away from anybody else, but I know I could make a difference."

Chancellor is probably similar to Walter Jones -- the rare athlete who can come right in and play at a high level despite missing all of training camp. During his three camp holdouts as a franchise player, Jones always took two or three games to get into gear, but he turned in Pro Bowl seasons each year. Expect the same from Chancellor.

Not that he is a savior, by any means, but the embodiment of the Legion of Boom figures to improve Seattle's struggling defense.

The Seahawks are 0-2, and history says they have an 11 percent chance to make the playoffs and a 1 percent chance to win the Super Bowl (just three of 204 teams that started 0-2 have done it since the playoffs expanded in 1990).

One of those teams was the 1993 Dallas Cowboys, who lost their first two games as All-Pro running back Emmitt Smith held out. Smith returned for Week 3 and the Cowboys won 12 of the final 14 games and cruised to a second straight Super Bowl title.

The Seahawks surely hope this turns out similarly.

As for the long term, it almost certainly won't be like Joey Galloway's holdout, which came in Mike Holmgren's first year (1999). There was no loyalty on either side in that case, and Holmgren traded Galloway after the season.

Carroll has no intention of trading Chancellor: “Kam’s going to be with us for a long time. We hope he’ll always be a Seahawk, and that’s all we’ve ever thought of it; nothing’s ever changed in that. Really nothing’s ever changed in his thought of that either. We’re very much in concert about that, and we’ll look forward to a really long relationship. It’s been fantastic until now, and we’re going to just continue it.”

Image: Mike Morris (Flickr)