Now that the NFL free agency period has begun, teams are able to get a better picture of the direction they are heading in. The Seattle Seahawks’ first two signings were obvious, but the right ones. It was great to see the organization bring both Marshawn Lynch and Red Bryant back, as they are the core of their respective sides of the ball. I was hoping that Seattle would make a play to add speedy receiver Laurent Robinson and have him play on the opposite side of Sidney Rice. Robinson did not sign with the Seahawks, but Seattle is at least working on improving their pass game, by having two quarterbacks not named Peyton Manning come in to visit the team on Wednesday and Thursday.
Chad Henne was the first quarterback to come in and visit the team on Wednesday. This visit does very little to get the fan base excited, as Henne was given plenty of opportunity with the Dolphins to succeed. As I am writing this column, Chad Henne just signed with the Jaguars. Now that Henne is off the board, Seattle’s focus is of course the quarterback coming into town today, Matt Flynn. Before Manning was made available, Flynn was considered the quarterback to have. With Seattle GM John Schneider being from Green Bay, Seattle does have some familiarity with Flynn and the Seahawks do run an offense that is very similar to that of Green Bay’s, with both teams running a base west coast offense.
What is scary about signing Flynn is that he has only played in 2 full games and one of them was for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns. He has shown great poise in both games and it should not be called a fluke to throw for that many yards and touchdowns in an NFL game. However, being that the sample size is small and he was only a 7th round pick (Yes, Brady became a stud), Seattle should be weary of how much they should pay him. Flynn played well enough in those two games, but only two games, to sign this contract to get the opportunity to play for his super deal in the future. The Kevin Kolb experiment should be a lesson for Seattle when it comes to paying Flynn and the Hawks should not pay him more than $8 million per season. The ideal contract for Flynn would be $6 million base with about $2 million in incentives for this season and about 3 to 4 year length of contract.
Reports have surfaced and it looks more than likely that Peyton Manning is going to sign with the Tennessee Titans, meaning that the Miami Dolphins are going to be major players in the Flynn sweepstakes. If this does happen, Seattle should not get into a bidding war with Miami and overpay Flynn. Manning going to the Titans will mean that former Seahawk great Matt Hasselbeck will be let go. Should Seattle consider bringing him back? Yes they should, as he showed that he can still be very productive and nearly carried the Titans to the playoffs. Would Seattle consider bringing him back? No, the Carroll regime showed last year that they want to move forward, or else they would have brought him back last year. Tim Hasselbeck, did say last year that his brother was willing to work out a contract to return to Seattle last year, so we know that Carroll does not want to move forward with Hasselbeck last year or this year.
If Seattle is left with no other options, perhaps the Seahawks should consider bringing in Donovan McNabb. Seattle would not have to overpay for his services, as we can most likely sign him for the veteran’s minimum. Yes, it may have looked as though McNabb has struggled in his last two years, but I have a hard to believing a player of his caliber can go from a pro bowler with a 93 passer rating and a 2 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio in 2009 to a player below Rex Grossman. Even in Washington with no help at receiver, running back, offensive line, McNabb completed 58% of his passes and was on pace to break the Redskins single season passing yards record and even threw 426 yards in a game. The Redskins were also overachieving that year and beat some quality opponents like the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers, in which McNabb threw for 349 yards and led the team to a 4th quarter comeback. Even in Minnesota, McNabb still had an 83 passer rating, with no receivers and inconsistent offensive line play.
By Seattle resigning Marshawn Lynch and Red Bryant, the Seattle Seahawks showed fans what type of organization they are, one that rewards hard work. With many of the quarterbacks going off the market, and with Flynn visiting the team today, Seattle should have an idea of who their quarterback will be next season. Miami is going to make a major push for Flynn and Seattle should not overspend on him, and should consider signing a veteran like Donovan McNabb for a cheap rate. If Seattle chooses not to sign a quarterback through free agency, they should highly consider a quarterback in this April’s draft and Tarvaris Jackson is a well respected player in the locker room that he can keep the seat warm for the future quarterback and still give us 7 to 9 wins and a shot at the playoffs.
Image Courtesy Of The Oregonian
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