Contracts, Free agency

Latest free agency rumors & tidbits

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Logo -- Free agencyThe NFL year begins in a month, and the rumors and speculation are heating up across the league as free agency and the trading period approach.

In addition to the usual free agency chatter, there is a lot of speculation about what the Seahawks are going to do with veterans Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Michael Bennett — all signed for 2018.

Barring value trade offers, we expect all three to be back — Thomas with a new deal and Sherman and Bennett likely playing their final seasons in Seattle.

Here’s the latest scuttlebutt on Seattle’s top pending free agents and some players who have been mentioned in connection with the Seahawks:

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The roster, Trades

Sherman will be a Seahawk in 2018, unless …

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Sherman AchillesOf course Richard Sherman is going to play next season. There was never any question about that. He merely confirmed it Thursday night.

There probably isn’t a question about where he will play either — not with him coming off an Achilles injury. Even he said he had no doubt he would be a Seahawk in 2018.

The Seahawks certainly will not cut him, as we said in November after he was injured. And, due to the injury, he probably won’t draw any good trade offers. So the Hawks will be content to help him rehab and prove his mettle again at age 30. And then decide whether to re-sign him in 2019.

But, worth considering: If some team were willing to offer a second-round pick or even a third, would John Schneider take it?

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Contracts, State of the team

Carroll, Wilson exchanging messages?

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Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson plan to be clapping about their offense a lot this season (Getty Images)Pete Carroll has sent his message, accused by some of power tripping, and now some insiders think Russell Wilson is using his own power play to deliver a message to the Seahawks.

Bob Condotta and Brock Huard, who both know a little something about the inner workings of the Seahawks, are inferring that Wilson’s orchestrated trade to the Yankees is meant as a reminder that Seattle needs to do all the right things to keep Wilson beyond the expiration of his contract in two years.

Quite obviously, this is not a threat to leave the Seahawks to play baseball. But Condotta and Huard think it is perhaps agent Mark Rodgers’ subtle way of reminding the Hawks that Wilson controls his destiny and destination.

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Contracts, Free agency, The roster

12-step program for Schneider’s offseason

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John Schneider (via Fresh Files)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.

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Contracts, Franchise history

Hutch poison pill: The rest of the story

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Hutch KJRSteve 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.

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Contracts, Franchise history, The roster

Will Schneider pay to end Curse of Hutch?

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Salary cap logoAs 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.

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NFL draft

Hawks eye linemen

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NFL draftNo matter what the Seahawks do before or during free agency, their top needs in this draft will be their lines.

They need to replace Cliff Avril and, eventually, Michael Bennett on the defensive front. And they need to add a good guard to an offensive line that now has a coach who should get the most out of the talent.

So, it figures that two guys the Hawks reportedly showed high interest in during Senior Bowl week were versatile linemen: Nevada blocker Austin Corbett and Alabama defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand.

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Contracts, The roster

Safeties ‘n’ numbers

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Salary cap logoBoth 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.

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Coaches, NFL history, Super Bowl XLIX

Adjusted goal for Carroll: Do it better than anyone but Pats

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Belichick XLIXPete Carroll’s goal since he arrived in Seattle has been to “do it better than it’s ever been done.”

Sorry, Pete, but there’s only one team that has done that, and it’s headed to the Super Bowl again.

So Carroll and the Seahawks will have to content themselves with trying to do it better than anyone but the New England Patriots.

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady continue to prove they are the best coach-QB combo ever, now on to their eighth Super Bowl together and a cinch for Team of the 2010s as they go for their third win in four appearances this decade and sixth win overall. That’s doing it better than it has ever been done.

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Contracts, Free agency

P-Rich about to get paid by some other team

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P-RichPaul 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.

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