The third bird was a charm.
The Eagles managed to do what their feathered NFC friends the Falcons and Seahawks could not — finish off the Patriots in yet another high-flying Super Bowl. And now we are officially on to the NFL offseason (which has started with a bang thanks to Josh McDaniels).
The Seahawks, of course, have been finished for a month — enough time for Pete Carroll to perform a major shakeup of his staff (eight coaches gone, five arrived). Now it is John Schneider’s turn.
Steve Hutchinson is back in Minnesota this weekend for another big opportunity, 12 years after he left Seattle in one of the most infamous free agency moves in NFL history.
As he waits to learn whether he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year, making the media rounds in Minneapolis, he has discussed his off-field legacy almost as much as what he did on the field.
Most of the Hutch Poison Pill story is well-known by Seahawks fans, but Mike Holmgren and Hutchinson got together on KJR on Thursday and revealed some more details of one of the most dramatic stories in NFL free agency history.
As former Seahawk Steve Hutchinson waits for the Hall of Fame to come knocking this weekend, it is a reminder of what the Seahawks once had — and what they need to build again.
The big question some fans have: Will John Schneider do what Tim Ruskell would not and pay an All-Pro guard?
As longtime fans (pre-“12s”) will recall, Ruskell (Seattle’s GM before Schneider) chose not to franchise the All-Pro Hutchinson in 2006 and ended up losing him to Minnesota.
Hutch and Hall of Famer Walter Jones keyed the best line in Seattle history in the early to mid-2000s, but Seattle has not been able to field a strong line since Ruskell’s huge mistake. We’ve called it the Curse of Hutch.
Both of Seattle’s star safeties are at career crossroads — one seemingly talking about walking out, the other about holding out.
The short of it: Yeah, it looks like Kam Chancellor is done, but Earl Thomas is not going anywhere.
Chancellor’s Instagram post Friday was seen by most as a message that he is leaning toward retiring — or at least not playing again. Unlike Cliff Avril, he has been silent about his neck injury, but all signs point to the No. 1 Legionnaire of Boom likely being finished.
The only question has been whether he would make the team put him on injured reserve so he could collect his injury guarantees, which amount to $12 million over the next two years.
Meanwhile, there is no question that money is at the heart of Thomas’ concerns. Late in the season, he started rumbling about his contract and possibly playing for Dallas. This week, at the Pro Bowl in Florida, he doubled down on the contract talk with a subtle threat of a holdout.
Paul Richardson’s name came up all over the place Thursday, with a lot of chatter about his situation as he prepares to hit free agency.
Richardson was on the radio in his hometown of L.A., talking to the loudmouth with the goofiest name in broadcasting. Asked about possibly leaving Seattle for a passing offense, P-Rich said, “I do think about it. I think about it a lot, especially with my situation coming up with free agency.”
Richardson probably senses he will be leaving. The Seahawks apparently are willing to pay $5.5 million a year, per John Clayton, but Richardson seems likely to get at least $7 million from another team.
Continue reading P-Rich about to get paid by some other team
Cliff Avril has been teasing Seahawks fans with some wishful thinking for his return from a serious neck injury.
For the second time this month, Avril hinted that he might return to play.
“I believe so,” Avril told NFL Network on Monday. “Right now it’s all about recovery. I had surgery. I’m in the process of recovering. It’s a long process, a long journey. When I get to the end of that, then I’ll figure out what’s next.
Continue reading Avril teases about return, but what if he can come back?
Seattle is willing to pay Earl Thomas top of the market, Bradley McDougald is 70 percent to re-sign and Michael Bennett is 70 percent to be let go, according to “nuggets” from Davis Hsu, a reliable champion of Seahawks scuttlebutt on Twitter.
Also from Hsu’s source: Cliff Avril has a better chance to play again than Kam Chancellor, it looks like Byron Maxwell will return and Malik McDowell apparently has made some progress as he recovers from his ATV accident.
Earl Thomas’ future in Seattle has suddenly come into question — thanks to his puzzling comments in the final weeks of the season and Pete Carroll’s lack of a firm answer about Thomas’ status.
We think the team will extend Thomas, but it’s entirely possible Thomas has been speaking out of knowledge that Seattle is not interested in extending him.
Trading Thomas would not make any football sense, of course, because the Seahawks don’t have anyone nearly as talented and are already thin at safety with Kam Chancellor possibly done playing and Bradley McDougald a free agent.
But there is a scenario where Carroll and John Schneider might decide dealing their 28-year-old Pro Bowl free safety is their best move: If they really want to pay to keep Sheldon Richardson and if Chancellor decides he wants his injury-guaranteed salary, the Hawks would have to make salary cap room for both.
Earl Thomas is creating a lot of negative-energy waves as this season winds down. To some, it might seem like he is trying to build up a trade tsunami.
But it’s just Earl being Earl — the Pro Bowl safety who wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes puts his foot in his mouth. And you can expect him to be a happy camper, with feet firmly on the ground, again as soon as John Schneider gives him another contract extension in the coming offseason.
Thomas’ contract — which has one year left — clearly is on his mind, and he seems to be bracing for Seattle to trade him in 2018 or lowball him and force him to go play somewhere else in 2019.
Continue reading Thomas bracing for departure, but Hawks will pay him
John Schneider has not been afraid to make bold gambles with the Seahawks’ roster — Percy Harvin, Jimmy Graham and Sheldon Richardson being prominent examples. As the 2018 offseason approaches, he has a chance to make another one.
Richardson figures to command a hefty contract on the open market, and he and the Jets reportedly are interested in a reunion — just months after the Jets traded him to Seattle for a second-round pick and Jermaine Kearse (and a swap of seventh-rounders).
Schneider could shrug and let the defensive tackle go, content to look forward to the third-round comp pick Seattle likely would get in 2019 — a partial offset for that trade. Or Schneider could be a lot more devious and daring, if he felt he could manipulate the situation to Seattle’s advantage.
Schneider has not used the franchise tag since his first year in Seattle, 2010, when he retained kicker Olindo Mare. But he should consider it for Richardson. And then trade him.
CHAWK TALK: Everything being said about the Seahawks 