Here are Seattle's draft picks now that the compensatory picks have been issued:

Essentially, the Seahawks lost four spots in the fourth round because (4) compensatory picks were issued in the third round; they lost 5 spots in the fifth round; one spot in the sixth round; and nine spots in the seventh round.

Here is who got compensatory picks, which are based on salary, playing time and postseason honors for players who leave via free agency:

Baltimore 4
Cincinnati 4
Chicago 3
Indy 3
Philly 3
Washington 3
Buffalo 2
Carolina 2
Miami 2
Atlanta 1
Green Bay 1
New York Giants 1
St. Louis 1
San Diego 1
Tennessee 1

Seahawks GM Tim Ruskell said right before free agency that he expected to get a compensatory pick, though that clearly was not the case.

Frank is at the owners meeting in Palm Beach, Fla. He currently doesn’t have Internet access, but passes along this bit of news:

The NFL today awarded 15 teams a total of 32 compensatory draft choices, but the Seahawks were not one of those teams.

A lot of things were covered, so I'll just start listing them:

* It sounds preliminarily like there is not a great deal of support for re-seeding. I spoke with Tony Dungy for a few minutes, and he seems to think that if winning a division title means nothing, then just scrap the whole division breakdown and give playoff berths to the top six teams based on record. I think most are of a feeling that winning a division should mean something. It is not a dead issue and has not been voted on, but it sounds like there is some push against the current proposal.

=> Read more!

The league's executives are in meetings right now, locked up for about another hour in a ballroom at The Breakers hotel in Palm Beach. There is a news conference at 1 ET during which they will update us about some of the morning activities. I will file a post after that. I ran into Tim Ruskell briefly, but he was on his way into the meeting and couldn't talk. I'm hoping he has some time later. Also, I think the league is going to issue compensatory picks today, though most folks are saying the Seahawks are not due to get any, even though Ruskell said earlier he thought they were. We'll see how that shakes out, as well.

Lindsey is a long snapper the team signed after the regular season. This is really a poor job of writing a story (I'm assuming the TV station's site on which it is posted does not have editors), but there is some mildly interesting information in there if this guy happens to be the team's next long snapper. You have to fight through the grammar.

As always, traveling is for some reason an odyssey. I had a 6 am flight this morning to Palm Beach to attend the owners meetings, which start tomorrow. But just before we were about to take off, the underground gas line at Sea-Tac blew and apparently there was a geyser of airplane fuel that spouted 100 feet into the air at Alaska Airlines, at least according to our captain. So we had to sit around for over an hour waiting for that to be rectified before we could take off. In Denver, I landed after my connection took off, but sprinted to the gate anyway just in case they were late. They had actually held the plane for me and a few other passengers, though there was not time for luggage to make it. So here I sit in Florida wearing my cold-weather Seattle gear. Hopefully it will get here by tonight, but who knows. Se la vie.

A few of the topics that will be discussed this week include:

* The collective bargaining agreement, which is not up for a few more years but already there is discussion of a lockout/strike because the owners are said to be displeased with the amount of money they are paying out in salaries. One thing I think they will probably look at is a rookie salary scale to avoid the huge payouts that are going out to first-rounders, which particularly hurts for teams that draft players who happen to be busts.

=> Read more!

The Denver Post did a pretty good piece on former Seahawk Niko Koutouvides, why he left Seattle and what he is expected to do in Denver. Here is the link.

There was a story on the Web today about a Seahawks fan who was working in a fast-food restaurant, and he ended up spitting on the hamburger of a guy wearing some Steelers gear after they traded words about the Super Bowl. Here is the link. Ummm, yuck.

With Olindo Mare choosing Seattle over Denver a year after Patrick Kerney made the same decision, the Broncos (who beat out the Seahawks for Daniel Graham) are left looking for a kicker. The pickings are slim, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Mare may be on the downside of his career and he is probably a downgrade from Josh Brown, but at least the Seahawks have a proven guy in hand and they still can draft or sign a youngster to compete in camp.

Here is the press release:

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have signed 12-year veteran kicker Olindo Mare, the team announced this evening.

Originally signed by the New York Giants as an undrafted rookie free agent in 1996 where he spent the season on the practice squad, he spent 10 years with the Miami Dolphins before spending the 2007 season with the New Orleans Saints.

He left Miami as the Dolphins all-time leader in field goals (245), scoring (1,048) and field goal accuracy (.809, 245 of 303). He has posted six 100-point seasons in his career, including a career-high 144 points in his Pro Bowl season in 1999 when he set a then-NFL record with 39 field goals made.

Mare has played in 168 career games and connected on 255 of 320 field goals (.797) with a long of 54.

Apparently, PK Olindo Mare's visit with Seattle went well. He was is expected to sign a two-year, $3.5 million contract with Seattle on Thursday. The story was first reported by Pro Football Talk. Mare will replace Josh Brown, who departed for St. Louis via free agency. Here is a profile of Mare.

It is unclear what this means for the Seahawks in terms of the draft, or post-draft. GM Tim Ruskell has said that he wants to sign a veteran and have him compete with a draft pick or an undrafted rookie. It remains to be seen if that is still the case. Also, this seems to pretty much to complete the Seahawks' transactions in free agency. This was one of the final things Ruskell needed to do before concentrating on the draft.

Here's the team's press release:

WHAT: Installation of FieldTurf at Qwest Field

PHOTOS: 28 rolls of FieldTurf

Crews sewing the rows of FieldTurf together

WHEN: Thursday, March 27 from 1-2:30 p.m.

WHERE: Qwest Field

WHO: Donny Jones, FieldTurf representative

The NFL held a teleconference yesterday in preparation for its owners meetings in Palm Beach next week, which I will be attended and from which I will be blogging. One of the primary goals of the meetings is to revisit the competitive balance in the league. Rich McCay, a co-chairman of the competition committee, said after reviewing last year, the league thinks the competitive balance is in good condition, citing these examples:

* A fifth seed won the Super Bowl this year, two seasons after a sixth seed won the Super Bowl. (I know, I know, splenectomy needed for the latter portion of that sentence.)

* In the AFC-NFC crossover games, each conference won 32 games in head-to-head competition.

* Statistically, plays were up to 153.1 a game. Points were up to 43.4, the highest since 1983. Yards per game were up to 650.4, the 10th highest in league history. And passing yards were 428 a game, second-highest in league history.

* Touchdowns per game were up to 4.85. Penalties per game were down, to 13.45 -- which seems like a high number if you watch the infrequently penalized Seahawks play regularly. And length of game is down to 3:02:59, which the league says it is happy with given the inclusion of instant replay.

He has not taken it yet, according to the Rocky Mountain News, and still could land in Seattle. A kicker is the last big item left on Tim Ruskell's offseason to-do list before the draft -- at least in terms of signing people.

Here are a few quotes from Marcus Trufant after signing his big contract today:

“All the way around, even from your rookie year on, making it to your next contract, that’s what a lot of the players are into now. As you’re coming in your agents tell you what you can do after you play out your first contract so getting to this day is a dream come true. It kind of just seems like everything is working out like a storybook in my life. I played ball here. I grew up here. I got to play college ball here, NFL ball here. I’m getting married in Seattle. Things just all come together and it’s kind of like a dream come true.”

“Does a contract like this motivate me anymore? I don’t know if it motivates me a whole lot more. Being the player that I am, the kind of guy I am, I’m going to go give a 110 percent every time. I want to be the same player, get better, but at the same time I want to still do what I’ve been doing; getting better at that and not try to do things all out of the ordinary. Do this and do that. I’m going to be the same player. I’m going to work hard in practice every day and try to help my team win ball games.”

“The foundation has been something that my family and I have been very involved with in the community and the foundation will benefit. First off, I’ll be here in town so I’ll be able to be at all the functions, be at all my bowling tournaments and all that kind of stuff that I do like that. I’ll be close to my mom and my dad. I’ll be able to work with them as they go out into the community. I think that’s the main thing, that I’m here in Seattle so I’ll have that close base, that relationship with the foundation. I wouldn’t be running from out of town and doing stuff like that. I’ll be able to go out and meet and greet people, shake hands, high five, and do all that kind of stuff.”

Marcus Trufant's deal is actually $50.2 over six seasons.

He has a $10 million signing bonus for this year, a $7 million roster bonus in March of 2009, and a $3 million roster bonus for March of 2010.

His salary for this year and next year will be $1 million, and his salary for the third year of the deal is $5.7 million. He also has $100,000 workout bonuses. Effectively, he has $28 million in guaranteed money, assuming he plays for the Seahawks for the next three years.

When you take into account that Washington state does not have a state income tax, Trufant's deal is actually pretty close to the deals given to Nate Clements and now DeAngelo Hall because California's state income tax is 9.8 percent. This is no small consideration. When I was covering the Washington Bullets way back in the mid-90s, Juwan Howard went to the Miami Heat for $98 million. The NBA voided the contract, saying there was improper contact, but the Bullets had to give Howard a $105 million contract to make the contracts equal because Florida, like Washington, has no state income tax.

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant agreed to a six-year, $50 million contract with the Seahawks late last night. He will sign the contract today. It is unclear if the sides will announce the decision today or wait a day.

It also is unclear what the guarantees or signing bonuses are, though my guess is he got between $15-$20 million guaranteed, in line with the contract that Asante Samuel received.

With an $8.33 million average, both sides gave some on negotiations. Trufant had been asking for about $9 million a season, while the Seahawks came in somewhere around $8 million a year in their latest offer.

I don't know yet what Trufant's opening contract number will be, but I presume it is close to the $3 million he was offering in his initial proposal, which would save the Seahawks $6.5 million under the salary cap, which they will need to sign a new kicker, as well as some of their draft picks.

Greetings from sunny Arizona where it's 91 degrees ...

I was perusing my e-mail and received this press release about a few Hawks signings so here it is....

Kirkland, Wash. – The Seattle Seahawks have signed defensive end Chris Cooper and linebacker D.D. Lewis to one-year contracts, the team announced today.

Cooper, entering his seventh season, went to training camp with Seattle in 2006 but was released and picked up by Arizona where he spent the last two seasons. He has played in 78 career games with 12 starts and posted 135 tackles (101 solo) and 8.5 sacks.

Lewis started his career in Seattle in 2002 after making the team as an undrafted rookie free agent. He played five years for the Seahawks, starting 18 of 48 games, with 141 tackles (103 solo) and served a key role on special teams where he had 26 tackles and a blocked punt. He signed with Denver as an unrestricted free agent on April 26, 2007 but was released on October 16 after playing in five games for the Broncos.

From News Tribune wire services:

Told that The Sporting News had selected Ted Thompson as its George Young NFL Executive of the Year, Ron Wolf was not surprised.

“If I had told you before the season that the Packers would go 13-3 and make it to the NFC title game, you would’ve sent me to the loony bin,” says Wolf, the Packers’ former general manager who hired Thompson in 1992 as assistant director of pro personnel. “Ted understands every aspect of how an organization works. That’s why he was able to put together a winning team so quickly.”

Since rejoining the Packers as general manager in 2005 after a stint in Seattle, Thompson has blended the right mix of players.

He has kept productive veterans such as end Aaron Kampman, wide receiver Donald Driver and offensive tackle Chad Clifton while acquiring such players as linebacker A.J. Hawk, cornerback Charles Woodson, running back Ryan Grant, tight end Donald Lee and wide receivers Greg Jennings and James Jones.

Thompson also hired Mike McCarthy, who won a division championship in only his second season as a coach.

“Ted rebuilt the Packers quickly and efficiently with expert drafting and roster management and selected the right coach at the right time,” says Rams G.M. Jay Zygmunt.

Thompson displayed that same eye for talent when he was the Seahawks’ vice president of football operations from 2000 through 2004. Nine of Seattle’s starters in Super Bowl 40 were drafted by Thompson.

The Packers face another challenge this offseason with the retirement of Brett Favre, but Thompson began preparations for the post-Favre era in 2005 when he drafted Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick.

“I’m sure the Packers had other needs at that point, but Ted saw the need for a young quarterback, and now that pick has a lot greater impact than it did at the time,” says Wolf.

“You can look pretty smart if you have a knack for planning ahead. That’s Ted. The Packers are in good hands.”

Giants general manager Jerry Reese finished second in the polling of 48 NFL executives, while VP of player personnel Scott Pioli of the Patriots was third.

Updated at 1:15 p.m.

The Seahawks have announced that Lofa Tatupu has signed a contract extension through the 2015 season. ESPN.com is reporting that the six-year extension is worth $40 million, with $16 million guaranteed. The deal includes the remaining two years on his original contract, plus six additional years.

The Seahawks restructured the contracts of Patrick Kerney, Deon Grant, Craig Terrill and Jordan Babineaux to make Tatupu's deal work. Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell said Tatupu's extension did not "free up any cap space."

The contract is essentially an eight-year deal, which is nearly unheard of in the NFL, and all but ensures that Tatupu will be a Seahawk for the rest of his pro football career.

"I couldn't picture myself in any other uniform," Tatupu said, "and now I don't have to."

Seattle general manager Tim Ruskell said the team and Tatupu's agent, Fletcher Smith, began talking about a contract extension in the summer, but the talks heated up after the playoffs.

The third-year middle linebacker has made Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell and head coach Mike Holmgren look awfully smart after they traded up to select the Southern Cal linebacker in the second round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Since then, Tatupu has made three straight trips to the Pro Bowl and averaged 112 tackles per season.

As for running back Shaun Alexander, Ruskell said there has been no movement on that front. Ruskell did say that the team is still looking at what players are available in the free agent market, but said none of the signings will be a "big deal." The Seahawks are still in need of a kicker after Josh Brown signed with St. Louis earlier in the off-season.

Is it "The End of the Road" for Shaun?

Greetings from sunny Peoria, Arizona

The Seahawks just issued a e-mail announcing press conference today with Mike Holmgren and Tim Ruskell at 12:30 p.m. The announcement didn't have any other specifics.

I just got off the phone with Frank, who's actually in Tucson but doesn't have internet access, so I'd told him I'd post this.

We were guessing on what this press conference is about.... the guess.... Shaun Alexander. Could it be Shaun agreed to restructure his contract? It seems unlikely, but who knows.

Frank was told that neither Holmgren nor Ruskell was going to be available before the draft. And now they are having this press conference. Also it would seem logical to take care of the situation with Shaun before the draft.

Or could it be Marcus Trufant signing a contract?
Or could it be Mike Holmgren getting a new motorcycle?

Who knows? But I doubt the email would've been so cryptic if it was Trufant signing...

Again this is only a guess at this point. Frank said he'd call me if heard anything and I'll post it for you ASAP. We're all about team here at the TNT.

Free agent wideout D.J. Hackett agreed to two-year, $3.5 million deal with Carolina on Monday as the Panthers continued to upgrade their receiving corps.

The former Seahawk chose Carolina over Seattle, Washington and Tampa Bay, according to his agent, Kevin Robinson.

The Panthers have been busy trying to get star receiver Steve Smith help after he faced constant double-teams last season.

The Panthers signed receiver Muhsin Muhammad last month after he was released by Chicago.

The 6-foot-2 Hackett provides a big target opposite the small and speedy Smith. The 26-year-old Hackett has been plagued by injuries.

For those of you who were not big Darrell Jackson fans, you were vindicated. He was cut today by the Niners. Here is a blog entry from the San Francisco Chronicle, which points out that the Seahawks got Baraka Atkins with the pick that they got from San Francisco for Jackson.

Also, with news from Kirkland slowing to a crawl, I am taking some time off until the owners meetings commence in Florida at the end of the month, from which I will blog in full. After some discussion in the office, I have been assured that Darrin Beene and Dale Phelps will continue to post any news regarding the Seahawks on the blog so it does not go inactive in the time that I am gone. I know that was issue last time I took some time and we want to address it. I will be keeping in touch with the Marcus Trufant situation, and will of course write if anything happens with Shaun. Until then ...

The NFL Media Web site released a statement today about how many of its shows, including Inside the NFL on HBO, has been nominated for television Emmys. In fact, Inside the NFL received the most nominations, according to the release.

Why is this pertinent? Because the show has been canceled. Which makes you wonder why?

Here is the speculation on Wikipedia:

On February 6, 2008, HBO suddenly announced that the show would end its run after 31 seasons. HBO Sports cited increased competition in NFL-related programming since the show's inception as a reason for its cancellation.[1] Skeptics, however, believe that the real reason for HBO's decision to drop the show was due to the increasing cost[2] for usage of the NFL Films produced highlights.

In the final episode, a taped montage with highlights from the series' 31 seasons was aired. In addition, former hosts Dawson and Buoniconti did the final signoff as the credits rolled.

Bob Costas soon regarded the cancellation by HBO as being a "boneheaded"[3] move.

Here is a blog item from Philadelphia that talks about the Washington Nationals stealing the 12th Man concept for their new stadium in D.C. and applying it to baseball -- which would I guess make it the 10th man. Anyway, here is the blog post:

Because No One's Tired of the 12th Man Gimmick

The Nationals, wanting fans to feel all warm and cozy in the confines of the new stadium they're set to open this spring, are actually going to attempt to apply the "12th Man" theme made popular by Texas A&M and the Seattle Seahawks. So I guess Phillies players and fans should be intimidated by the menacing 10th man in DC, despite their not having even set foot in the new stadium yet, nor the Nats having finished higher than 4th since relocating from Montreal.

The well-traveled wide receiver visits Tampa Bay today in an effort to see if he can play opposite Joey Galloway. Here is the link to the Tampa paper. It'll be interesting to see if Hackett gets close to the type of deal he was hoping for by leveraging Washington, Carolina and Tampa against each other. None of the three seem inclined to overpay for him. And Seattle always remains a possibility.

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Marcus Trufant received a counterproposal from the team, according to a league source, though the sides do not appear close to coming to an agreement.

The exact amount of the counterproposal is not known, though it is somewhere between where the two sides started at the beginning of free agency.

Ten days ago, Trufant approached the Seahawks and told them he would take a contract worth less on average than the $9.5 million a year that Asante Samuel signed with Philadelphia shortly after free agency began on Feb. 29. It is believed Trufant told the Seahawks he would take about $9 million a year over five or six years.

Before free agency began, the Seahawks offered Trufant a deal that was worth approximately $7 million a season – though that offer was extended before Samuel signed his contract, which affirmed a cornerback market that had been established by Nate Clements in San Francisco last offseason.

Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell did not immediately reply to Trufant’s proposal because he was working on the contracts of running backs T.J. Duckett and Julius Jones.

It is not clear how the Seahawks and Trufant left their latest round of negotiations, though the league source said a resolution does not appear imminent.

After Trufant did not accept their initial offer, the Seahawks designated Trufant their franchise player, tendering him an offer worth $9.465 million. That amount is eating up much of the Seahawks’ cap space, which they would like to use to sign other free agents and/or their upcoming draft class.

Trufant’s proposal 10 days ago would have allowed the Seahawks to save $6.5 million in cap space because he would have taken a 2008 salary and bonus of around $3 million.

He visited Seattle a few weeks ago. He re-signed with Baltimore, according to Ravens Insider.

The Washington Times (which I worked for from 1994-97) talked to Jim Zorn about D.J. Hackett's visit to Redskins Park and Zorn (as he always is) was pretty candid about the Hackett situation. Here is the link. It's a pretty good read. Zorn maintains Seattle is a destination for the big wide receiver.

Also, I am not hearing anything happening on the Marcus Trufant front -- which makes me think there is something happening on the Marcus Trufant front. I know Ruskell was busy with the RBs last week and so couldn't address Trufant, but I think that is his next order of business. I'll let you know as information becomes available.

Former Seahawks QB Trent Dilfer was released today by the San Francisco 49ers. Not that it means a ton to Seahawks fans, though there was some speculation after the season that Dilfer should be Hasselbeck's QB coach after Zorn departed. To this day, Hasselbeck regularly talks about Dilfer and the affect he had on his career when he took Hasselbeck's starting job from him. In any case, here is the AP story on Dilfer's release:

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) _ The San Francisco 49ers terminated quarterback Trent Dilfer's contract Thursday, possibly signaling the end of the 14-year veteran's career.

=> Read more!

It appears as if Hackett's agent, Kevin Robinson, is lobbying for the Seahawks' free-agent wide receiver to land in Carolina, opposite Steve Smith. Here is a story in the Charlotte Observer quoting Robinson as saying that Hackett would like to join a playoff team and he thinks Carolina is that team. Not quite sure how that makes Washington or Tampa Bay feel, but ...

Also, if you are interested in a feel-good story, here is the link to a story about David Kirtman going to a local school to talk to the kids. These stories usually don't get that much publicity from cynical sportswriters so they are nice to read occasionally.

This is Frank's wife -- he's away from his computer right now but he asked me to post this. After multiple calls, Shaun's agent Jim Steiner called Frank to basically say he couldn't comment on Shaun's situation. He said that when there is any news, the Seahawks and Shaun will issue a joint press release. He could not comment on the time frame for a resolution.

According to Scout.com, wide receiver D.J. Hackett will visit Tampa Bay and then Carolina after his visit with Washington tomorrow. Tampa and the Redskins were the first two teams to contact Hackett, but they waited until now to bring him in. Here is the link to the story.

Also, speaking of receivers, a sort of interesting side story is going on in San Francisco, where Jerry Rice has given Isaac Bruce permission to wear the No. 80, in the same way that Steve Largent allowed Rice to wear 80 when Rice briefly played in Seattle. It is a topic of debate, of course, because if somebody else is wearing it is it truly a retired number. In any case, if you are interested, here is a link to a story that discusses the subject.

This is an update of the previous post, after we got Tim Ruskell in the parking lot.

OK, here is the deal with Shaun Alexander. KJR's Softy Mahler was reporting that Alexander is about to be let go. We ran into Mike Holmgren in the parking lot of the practice facility as he was leaving, and he confirmed that he did speak with Shaun today at the facility. He did not disclose what was said. But he said unequivocably that Shaun is not being released immediately. He said he could not be released right now anyway because of his injury. He had surgery on his wrist and is currently wearing a cast. When asked if Alexander was going to be released at a later date, Holmgren deferred to Tim Ruskell (which to me says "guilty"). So a little bit later, Ruskell comes out to the parking lot to leave and we asked him about Shaun. "Shaun Alexander has not been released," Ruskell said. "What about the future?" we asked. "Shaun Alexander has not been released," Ruskell said. Holmgren said he also met with Mo Morris and had a good conversation with him.

I was reading through some of the first comments/questions on this thread and wanted to clarify something. We did not have a lengthy conversation with Holmgren. It was essentially about Shaun. Holmgren was on his way home and wanted to make sure we knew that Shaun was not released, but not a great deal past that other than talking about T.J. Duckett and Julius Jones. Holmgren said he really likes the acquisitions of the two, though he has to figure out exactly how he is going to use Duckett. I hope that clears things up somewhat.

Here is the team's release:

KIRKLAND, WASH. – The Seattle Seahawks have named former University of Maryland wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn running backs coach, the team announced Tuesday.

Dunn will begin his first NFL season in 2008 after spending the previous 15 years at the collegiate level. In 2007, he became the assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach at Baylor after spending three seasons at the University of Arizona (2004-06).

A University of Idaho graduate, Dunn began his coaching career at his alma mater as a volunteer wide receivers coach in 1993. After stops at the University of San Diego (1994) and the University of New Mexico (1996-97), he moved to Washington State University (1998-02) as assistant head coach, special teams coordinator and running backs coach. Dunn was part of the coaching staff which directed the Cougars to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history before moving on to TCU in 2003.

Additionally, Dunn worked in the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship Program with the Seahawks (2003) and Denver Broncos (1997) during training camp.

Dunn attended North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo, Wash. He is married to Janelle and they have two daughters, Kayla and Lauren.

The Seahawks have hired Kasey Dunn as their running backs coach, replacing Stump Mitchell, who departed for Washington with Jim Zorn. Here is a pretty good link from 2006, when Dunn was hired at Baylor. In 1993, Dunn held a minority internship with the Seahawks.

As you can tell, I received a tutorial on doing charts and tables. So bear with me while I fiddle with the color schemes, backgrounds and font size. This is a maiden voyage.

Also, I spoke with Mark Briggs, our Web editor, and he is working on having the picture changed at the top of the blog, as man of you have requested.

Now that the Seahawks have filled the need at running back, I caught up with draft guru Rob Rang to get his thoughts on how the acquisition of T.J. Duckett and Julius Jones affects the Seahawks' draft.

Rob said he was surprised that in a draft deep with running backs, the Seahawks committed to much money to Jones and Duckett, essentially sending the message that they are for now the solution to the team's running woes. Rob said unless one of the Big Three running backs are there on the board, he no longer seems RB as a pressing need.

=> Read more!

Shaun Alexander's agent, Jim Steiner, spoke with Seattle AP writer Gregg Bell today, telling him that they plan on speaking with the Seahawks about the backfield situation in Seattle.

He did not say much more than that. (I know that all the Seattle beat writers have been trying to get ahold of Steiner, who has not returned calls. It looks like he covered the whole thing by speaking with Gregg.) Here is the link to Gregg's story. It will be interesting to see what comes out of Steiner's conversation with Tim Ruskell.

I think there is a general feeling that Shaun Alexander is going to be released any day now. Even if he is released, there is a chance that it does not happen for two and a half months. Not saying the Seahawks will definitely wait that long, but there is that possibility. Here's why:

Under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, if Alexander is designated a June 1 cut, they don't realize the cap savings until June 2. And with Alexander, they almost certainly would have to designate him a June 1 cut because that would only cost them $2 million against the cap in 2008 instead of $6.6 million.

So, if the Seahawks are not going to realize the cap savings immediately, it doesn't make sense to waive him immediately when they could still try to work out a trade with somebody. The only reason to waive him immediately is out of respect for him, allowing him to try to catch on with another team.

The Seahawks announced that Julius Jones has signed a multi-year contract. Here is the release:

KIRKLAND, WASH. – The Seattle Seahawks have signed RB Julius Jones to a multi-
year contract, the team announced Monday.

An original second-round draft choice by Dallas in 2004, Jones played his first four seasons for the Cowboys. Last season, he started all 16 games, rushing for 588 yards on 168 carries with two touchdowns. His best season came in 2006 when he rushed for a
career-high 1,084 yards on 267 carries.

After missing 11 games his first two NFL seasons, Jones has started 32 straight games the last two seasons and has started 51 of his 53 career games. For his career, he has 885 rushing attempts for 3,484 yards (3.9 avg.) and 18 touchdowns.

Two of his finest performances came at Qwest Field. In 2004, Jones rushed for career-highs with 198 rushing yards and three touchdowns on Monday Night Football against the Seahawks. Two years later he set playoff career-highs with 116 rushing yards on 22 carries.

Jones, 26, attended the University of Notre Dame, where he was one of just four running backs in school history to rush for over 3,000 career yards. He played in 45 games, rushing for 3,018 yards and 26 rushing touchdowns.

A native of Virginia, his older brother Thomas, plays for the New York Jets.

I have been trying to do some background stuff on some of these contracts the Seahawks are agreeing to, and this is what I came across regarding T.J. Duckett.

He has a guaranteed base salary of $605,000 in 2008, with a guaranteed signing bonus of $2 million. In 2009, he has another guaranteed bonus of $2 million, plus a $2.5 million non-guaranteed salary. For cap purposes, the $4 million will be spread over the five-year length of the contract. But for practical purposes, assuming he is on the roster in 2009, Duckett will earn $7.1 million over the first two years of the contract.

=> Read more!

According to NFL Network's Adam Schefter, Julius Jones is getting $5.5 million in this first season of a contract that could pay $16 million over four seasons. $4 million of the deal is guaranteed.

This means that the Seahawks currently are paying $5.5 million to Jones for 2008, $4.475 million to Shaun Alexander, $1.47 million to Leonard Weaver, $1 million apiece to T.J. Duckett and Maurice Morris and $370,000 to David Kirtman, a total of $13,815,000. That is 12 percent of the $116 million salary cap.

By comparison, LaDainian Tomlinson will make $5.75 million in 2008.

It also means that Jones' contract ate up a lot of what the Seahawks had remaining under the salary cap, which means they are going to have to make some moves -- sign Marcus Trufant, release Alexander -- to free up more space to do much else.

Kind of a slow day, so I thought I'd post that former Seahawks defensive back Marquand Manuel, who played in the Super Bowl, joins Niko Koutouvides in Denver. Here is the link to the story.

These are answers to your questions from the previous Answers to your questions (if you follow that):

1) According to a chart I have from the NFL Media Web site, two franchise players signed with other teams in 1998, and one signed in 1993. The chart does not say who the players are.

2) We do not have any media availability set up with Ruskell, and they have not told us if Julius Jones is going to have a press conference. They have not even announced he is officially signed yet.

3) Yes, I still think they take a RB in the draft, for the same reason I think they take an OT. It is deep, they can stock up for the future with talent that they may not be able to get in other drafts, and it doesn't necessarily put pressure on the guy to perform right away.

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Here are a few answers to some questions that have been posted in recent days:

1) Has Marcus Trufant signed his tender offer? No, he has not. He is not going to sign it for a while in case there is another team interested in negotiating with him. Remember, if he signs with another team, the Hawks are due two first-round picks. In doing some research, there have only been three players who have been franchised in the history of the league who have signed with other teams, so that is not a likely scenario. I think now that Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett have been signed, Tim Ruskell can turn his attention to the proposal Trufant made to them, which was about $9 million a year over five or six years.

2) Any word on Leonard Weaver? No, that one is out there for a while. He is not going to sign his tender offer for a while in case there are teams interested in signing him and driving up his value. But I spoke to agent a week or so ago and he said that while teams called to get some cursory talks going, giving up a second-round pick is scaring them off. I would expect him to re-sign with the Hawks. The question is whether it is a long-term deal or only for a year. I would guess with the way he developed that they would want to lock him up for a while, but as you may have noticed in the past few days, the backfield is in a state of flux.

3) Anything on Chris Gray retiring? If Gray retires, I would think he would want to do it after the draft. He is the team's only backup center right now, and with Chris Spencer having shoulder and hand surgery, Gray will have to be the center in mini-camps. His agent said the Hawks have not asked him to retire. My guess is he sticks around for the final year of his contract, if for nothing else to mentor Rob Sims and Ray Willis.

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The sides are ironing out a deal but a deal is not done yet. It almost certainly will be, however. John Clayton is reporting that the deal is for four years at $3 million per year.

Even if this gets done tonight, Shaun is not going to be cut tonight. He may be released soon, but this doesn't necessarily have to be a one-for-one deal. The Hawks don't have to cut Shaun to sign Jones.

Still, it certainly raises the question of why the Seahawks would hang onto Shaun. I called his agent's office and they are currently not accepting phone calls.

Mo Morris has not been told that he will be released, so I think for now he is safe. He has only one year remaining on his deal anyway, so it would not make much sense to cut him. The interesting part is that Jones and Morris have strikingly similar numbers. The year that Jones rushed for 1,000 yards in Dallas, he averaged only 4.1 yards a carry. Morris averaged 3.8 in 2006 and 4.5 in 2006.

Also, several folks have asked about the progress of the Marcus Trufant negotiations since he made the new proposal to Tim Ruskell. My understanding is that it has not progressed anywhere. Of course, Ruskell has been busy with signing Duckett and now Jones, so his attention has been elsewhere. Imagine if he gets the Trufant deal done in the next few days and releases Alexander, he will have cleared $10 million in cap space in one swell foop.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network just reported that the Seahawks are going to sign Julius Jones tonight. This very well could be the end of Shaun Alexander's career in Seattle. I'll update as information becomes available.

Last week, Tim Ruskell told us that he expects Deion Branch to be available for most of the 2008 season, after missing training camp. That didn't sound completely right to me, so I talked to Dr. Mark Klion from Mt. Sinai Hospital today to get a better idea about surgically repaired ACLs. Klion, an orthopedic specialist, told me that nine months is the amount of time it takes to recover from an ACL surgery. It has nothing to do with being an athlete or being in shape or the severity of the injury, but that they have not yet developed a way to accelerate the healing of an ACL tear. They are working on it, but progress has not fully been made. So we will start there, 9 months for Branch to be fully ready to go.

The Seahawks sent out a press release on Jan. 17 saying Branch would have surgery sometime in the near future. They never released an exact date, but for argument's sake let's say it was Jan. 25. Nine months later is Oct. 25, which is right in the window when teams can allow their PUP players to begin practicing to determine if they are healthy enough to play.

This year, Oct 25 fell during the bye week, which was after the seventh game of the season, which means that if all goes well Branch should be available for more than half the season.

None of this is an exact science of course, but after crunching some roster numbers it appears the Seahawks are nearly done in free agency, probably adding two or maybe three more players.

As it currently stands, the Seahawks have 47 players on their roster. They have 48 if you count Mack Strong, who I don't think has officially been released, but he announced his retirement so we will go with the number 47. (This number includes Marcus Trufant, Leonard Weaver, David Kirtman and Lance Laury).

Add to that 47 the seven guys they signed after the season as well as the eight guys they have on the practice squad who were re-signed. That takes us up to 62.

I am going to assume that the Seahawks get a compensatory draft pick, which would give them seven draft picks (they don't have a fifth-round pick), taking the number up to 69. And then they generally sign about eight undrafted free agents the day after the draft, taking the number up to 77. They can bring 80 players into camp, and don't forget that they still have to resolve the long snapper and kicker dilemmas, though I suspect the kicker will be addressed in the draft.

That being said, it appears the Seahawks will sign probably two or three more players, one of which is likely to be a special teams/linebacker to replace the void left by Niko Koutouvides and Kevin Bentley. Also, they still could re-sign D.J. Hackett, taking up another roster spot. And Julius Jones remains out there, as well -- though if he is signed a roster spot could open up because of a roster move elsewhere in the backfield, if you know what I mean.

Mark Curnutte of the Cincy Enquirer wrote in his column today that unrestricted free agent linebacker Caleb Miller is scheduled to meet the Seahawks. This comes on the heels of Nick Greisen making a visit. With Niko Koutouvides and Kevin Bentley departing, the Seahawks still need some depth at the spot, as well as help in special teams. Here is a link to Miller's player profile.

According to Spartannation, free agent Chuck Darby is departing the Seahawks to join the Lions and former coach Rod Marinelli. This comes really as no surprise. The Seahawks never expressed an interest in Darby returning after his season ended due to injury. They have said they'd like to get more depth at the position, but Darby would have been too expensive with rookie Brandon Mebane doing much better than most expected last season as Darby's replacement. The Seahawks' biggest question mark at the position is whether Marcus Tubbs is going to be able to return at full strength after hurting his knee against last season. He'd be a pretty nice addition to the rotation if he could stay healthy.

The NFL and cable companies Comcast and Time Warner continue to spar over the cable companies' refusal to air NFL Network for free. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell put forth an interesting argument today, though: that the NFL is being discriminated against. He was laughed at and in some cases chastised for that stance given the league's anti-trust exemption. Here is the link to the story. It sounds like nothing concrete was resolved, but at the very least the sides are discussing the issue, which hopefully is beneficial to all of us.

After talking to a number of people, it has become apparent that Pork Chop Womack, in a move of good faith, restructured his contract at the end of 2007 season in order to give the Seahawks an additional $7-8 million cap space.

Without specifics, here is what happened: The Seahawks placed a bogus incentive bonus in Pork Chop's contract. As expected, he failed to reach the bonus. So that money then rolls over to the 2008 cap, enabling the Seahawks to get more room under the $116 million cap.

This does not mean necessarily that the Seahawks are going to re-sign Womack, an unrestricted free agent. It was done as a move toward good will to show that he is a team player. This has become a common practice in the NFL in an effort to increase a team's cap space.

It still doesn't give the team a ton of space under the cap right now because they still have to earmark money for incoming rookies, but it at least gave them some breathing room.

Sorry this all was a bit delayed this morning, I was doing the unenviable task of my 2007 taxes. Ugh.

In any case, I spoke with Nick Greisen's agent, who did not sound optimistic about his client joining the Seahawks. He did not get into many specifics about Greisen's visit or why it was not a good fit, though I suspect it has to do with limited opportunity behind the three LBs already in place. He did not rule out Seattle altogether, but certainly nothing seemed imminent.

Also, this has been posted in several other spots already, but running back Julius Jones is visiting Seattle today, though on the heels of the signing of T.J. Duckett it doesn't make a ton of sense unless Shaun Alexander is quickly on his way out the door. To have Alexander, Maurice Morris, Duckett, Jones, Weaver and potentially a draft pick all in the same backfield just doesn't seem to fit unless Tim Ruskell is stockpiling talent with the thought that you can't have too much.

Jones visited with Tennessee earlier this week.

A few weeks ago, we did a post about former running back Curt Warner's house burning down. That fire was apparently started by a child in the house playing with matches. Here is the link to a story from the Vancouver, Columbian, where Warner's house is located.

Here is the release from the team:

The Seattle Seahawks signed RB T.J. Duckett to a multi-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.

Duckett comes to Seattle after spending one season in Detroit. The 27-year-old running back was originally drafted in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons where he played four seasons before being traded to the Washington Redskins in 2006.

A product of Michigan State University, Duckett has rushed for 2,642 yards and 36 touchdowns in seven NFL seasons. He established career highs in 2003 with 779 yards and a team-leading 11 touchdowns.

Why is this significant for the Seahawks? Because some folks with whom I have spoken thought there was a good chance that Maxie was going to be a coach with the Seahawks next season under Jim Mora. He coached on Mora's staff in Atlanta and the two are tight. This is not to say that Maxie still will not be a part of Seattle's staff. He is only helping out with Dallas' secondary, he is not THE secondary coach. The story in the Dallas Morning News, linked here, does not say how long Maxie's contract is. So he could easily join Mora's staff next year, particularly since it would be a step up rather than a lateral move. Anyway, this is a name to keep an eye on.

I just spoke with D.J. Hackett's agent, Kevin Robinson, who said that his client still has an interest in rejoining the Seahawks, depending on where things go in free agency. Obviously, Hackett's injuries have cooled the interest in him on the open market and he has had no visits to any teams so far. There is an internet report that Buffalo could be interested in Hackett if their talks with Bryant Johnson fall apart, but for now it appears that Hackett is in a wait-and-see mode with Seattle as a fallback.

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The Seahawks just announced they signed free-agent tight end Jeb Putzier to a one-year contract. He played for the Houston Texans last year but released last month. Here is a link to his profile. He is likely to take the place of Ben Joppru. Will Heller is the No. 2 guy and the No. 1 guy is likely to be taken in the draft.

The Seahawks also confirmed the hiring of Mike DeBord. Again, he is not the running backs coach but an offensive assistant. Here is the team's release on DeBord:

The Seattle Seahawks have named Mike DeBord offensive assistant, the club announced Tuesday.

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Running back T.J. Duckett told the Associated Press in Detroit that he has agreed to a five-year contract with Seattle.

Financial terms of the deal are not known, but presumably it is a longer deal so that whatever the signing bonus is can be spread out over a longer period. This is likely the money that the Seahawks cleared when they waived Tom Ashworth a few days ago.

What this means in the long term remains to be seen. How will Duckett be used? As a short-yardage back only? As an eventual replacement for Shaun Alexander? Tim Ruskell says that Alexander will be around, but few believe that to actually be the case given Alexander's 2008 salary. Most think that Ruskell will wait to see who the Seahawks acquire in the draft before making a firm decision on Alexander.

In any case, the Seahawks have their first free agent under wraps who is not their own. And they are keeping their word that they are addressing the running game.

The Seahawks released this quote from Mike Holmgren regarding Packers QB Brett Favre, who announced his retirement today. Holmgren and Favre were together for two trips to the Super Bowl, winning one:

"Brett's career accomplishments will be measured among the greats of the game for the balance of time. He truly was as gifted a player as I have ever seen, and as proud and amazed as I am of what Brett has accomplished on the playing field," said Holmgren. "The thing that impresses me the most is what kind of a man and leader he has become off the field since I have known him. I have taken great joy in watching him develop as a person and father - perhaps even more so - than as a coach watching his quarterback."

According to the Detroit Free Press, the Seahawks are going to announce the hiring of Mike Debord as an assistant coach. His job has not been defined, though it seems that he is not going to be the running backs coach, which is still vacant.

Debord was Michigan's offensive coordinator, fired when Rich Rodriguez took over. Here is the story about his hiring.

Lions Insider Tom Kowalski said on a Michigan radio station that Chuck Darby is the most likely defensive lineman to sign with Detroit. He has a good relationship with Rod Marinelli, who he credits with developing him as a player. Here is the link.

If Darby left, that would be four of 11 unrestricted free agents who have left for other teams. Marcus Pollard, Jeff Robinson and Josh Scobey will not be back, leaving D.J. Hackett, Ben Joppru, Floyd Womack and Ellis Wyms unresolved.

According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, the Seahawks have shown an interest in Chiefs backup tight end Kris Wilson. Wilson started 12 games as an H-back for the Chiefs. Remember, new offensive line coach Mike Solari comes from the Chiefs, as well.

Sources have confirmed for me that Marcus Trufant has made a new proposal to the Seahawks that would average less than the money Asante Samuel just got from the Philadelphia Eagles. A hometown discout, as it were.

Though I don't know exact figures, I think that the new deal would average around $9 million a season for five or six seasons. Samuel got $9.5 million from the Eagles.

More importantly, I think the new proposal, at least my understanding of the way it could be structured, would allow the Seahawks to save around $6.5 million on this year's cap, giving the Hawks the necessary money under the cap to sign some of their own guys or other free agents who are coming in. Trufant would be paid around $3 million in the first year.

For now, these are the picks that Seattle has in the upcoming draft, and the ones they gave up to other teams.

Round 1 25th pick

Round 2 24th pick, 55th pick overall

Round 3 23rd pick, 86th overall

Round 4 22nd pick

Round 5 NO PICK 25th pick goes to Jacksonville

Round 6 23rd pick (from Tennessee)

Round 6 24th pick goes to Cleveland

Round 7 23rd pick goes to Philadelphia

Round 7 26th pick (from Jacksonville)

According to KFFL, the Seahawks are going to meet with Ravens linebacker Nick Greisen on Tuesday. He could fill the void left by the departures of Niko Koutouvides and Kevin Bentley. Here is his profile.

Did Seahawks wide receiver D.J. Hackett overestimate his value on the open market? So far the oft-injured wide receiver has yet to make a free-agent visit, though his agent told a Web site that he expects the Buccaneers and Redskins to come calling this week. If nobody gives him the type of money he is seeking, perhaps that will open the possibility that he could be back in a Seattle uniform next season.

There is a line in a report coming out of Detroit that says running back T.J. Duckett is expected to sign with Seattle. I have a call in to his agent to confirm if this is actually right. Here is a link to that story.

Here's the story that just moved on the Associated Press wire:

The Tennessee Titans agreed to a two-year contract with former Atlanta tight end Alge Crumpler, one of many veterans released last month by the Falcons.

Crumpler, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, is expected to help an offense that had only nine touchdown passes in 2007. He will get to play with a quarterback in Vince Young whose mobility is similar to Michael Vick.

“The thing that stands out when you look at Alge as a player is his production and reliability,” Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt said in a statement Monday.

“He is a complete tight end: a dynamic receiver for the Falcons offense, who also contributed as a blocker to a run offense that ranked first in the league in three of the last four years.”

Crumpler was released Feb. 15 after being plagued by knee problems in 2007, when he had 42 catches for 444 yards and five touchdowns. He was due to count $5.1 million against the salary cap in 2008.

Crumpler has 316 catches for 4,212 yards and 35 touchdowns in seven seasons with Atlanta.

On the heels of Kevin Bentley going to Houston, Niko Koutouvides now is departing for Denver, according to John Clayton, agreeing to a three-year deal with the Broncos. Special teams coach Bruce DeHaven has his job cut out for him this year. He has now lost his kicker and two of his best special teams players, including Koutouvides, the ST captain and who I think is one of the hardest hitters on the team. DeHaven still needs a long snapper as well. The Seahawks' linebacking corps now consists of the Big Three -- Lofa Tatupu, Julian Peterson and Leroy Hill, as well as Will Herring and Lance Laury. It is something that needs to be addressed either via FA or in the draft, though those draft picks are starting to get chewed up by need. Perhaps seeing these players leave will spur something forward with the Marcus Trufant negotiations. My guess with what happens there is a backloaded deal like the one the Seahawks were offering Josh Brown. I bet the Seahawks eventually offer something around $8.5 or $9 mil a year, with about $20 million guaranteed, but the first year of that pays him only about $4 million total, which would give the team another $5.5 to play with. Add to that the $2 million saved by cutting Tom Ashworth, and Ruskell should be able to start filling in some of the holes that are emerging with the departure of some key contributors. But Trufant is the key.

The Hawks' linebacker/special teamer, whose agent said this week that he was going to leave Seattle, agreed to a three-year, $4 million deal with the Texans. Here is the link to the Chronicle story.

A few days ago, I listed the players most likely to get cut by the Seahawks or have their contracts restructured in order to get more room under the cap.

I wanted to follow that up with some of the best bargains on the roster. And it easily -- EASILY -- comes at the linebacker position. Both Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill make are going to have base salaries of $520,000 for 2008. That is one All-Pro and one player who many feel should be a Pro Bowler, and may be if he was on another team.

Kelly Jennings, the starting right corner, is being paid only $445,000 this coming season, though his cap number is $1.366 million.

Darryl Tapp, who had four sacks in one game this year, is going to make only $445,000 in 2008. And Brandon Mebane, who emerged as a very good starter as a rookie, will make $370,000 this year.

As an aside, the biggest thing hurting the Seahawks' cap management is not Shaun Alexander's contract, but the fact that Grant Wistrom will count $4.667 million against the cap this year after getting released last offseason. That will come off for the 2009 cap.

According to the NFL Network, tight end Alge Crumpler is signing a deal with Tennessee. Here is the link.

Tight end Alge Crumpler now has talked to Tennessee, Tampa Bay and Seattle and the fourth team he is speaking with is the Buffalo Bills. According to this report Crumpler is going to make a decision Monday, which echoes what his agent told me on Friday.

There is a quote in the story from Brown about the Seahawks not addressing some of his concerns. I can only assume that means the snapper since Brown felt that was the issue that caused him to miss those consecutive field goals last season. Since they are kind of saying the snapper spot will be filled by a vet released by another team or an undrafted college guy -- which to me means, let's wait and see -- I have to think that was at least a concern for Brown. It also is said in the story that the Seahawks' offer was backloaded, though that does not come as a surprise given their cap constraints.

ST. LOUIS (AP) _ The St. Louis Rams took the unusual step of targeting a kicker on the first day of free agency. They quickly landed Josh Brown, whose track record they know all too well.

Brown, who signed a five-year, $14.2 million contract Saturday as replacement for the retired Jeff Wilkins, has an 80-percent success rate on field goals for his career. He tied an NFL record with four game-winning field goals in the final minute of regulation or overtime in 2006, and two of them stunned the Rams.

Those two kicks cost the Rams an NFC West championship, with the Seattle Seahawks winning the division at 9-7 and the Rams going 8-8.

"Some of the guys were like 'We have a nickname for you and we're all going to have to change our thoughts,'" Brown said at a news conference on Saturday. "The main one was Ram killer — that's what the Seattle people called me and I guess that's what some of them called me here. But no longer."

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If you remember from yesterday, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that Crumpler was on the verge of signing a deal with Seattle, and then Crumpler's agent, Butch Williams, backed off that, saying the report in the AJC was premature and inaccurate.

After speaking to a number of people, what I think happened was this: Crumpler was pretty optimistic about joining the Seahawks, both because the position was open and he was comfortable with Jim Mora and Tim Ruskell, both of whom have ties to the Falcons. I think that is when Crumpler's agent spoke with the AJC.

Then I think one of two things happened. Either, Seattle did not like what the medical results of Crumpler's knee. I was told that he had some difficulty running specific routes last year, the reason the Falcons ultimately waived him. Or, because the Seahawks are so strapped for cash until Marcus Trufant is resolved, they gave him an offer that was far less than what he was expecting. Remember, he was scheduled to make $3.4 million this year.

Once he got the offer, he and his agent decided to go visit one more team and see if they could scare up a better offer.

Williams said Crumpler and his wife are going to take the weekend to decide which team they want to join. As far I can tell, Seattle is still in the mix. But I think Crumpler is going to have to take a significant pay cut if he does indeed join the Hawks. That may be why they cut Tom Ashworth yesterday.