YAY!! Now let's get a kicker, a TE, another STRONG WR, another STRONG OL & we'll be in good shape!

Great areas of need that you mentioned there, moo... BUT, don't forget DT! While I love me some Mebane and Rocky-B, I seriously doubt Tubbs will be in the mix. I hope he is, but it just never seems to happen :( Oh, and if we will have about 6 mil left in cap space now after this deal, does anyone know what that will go to if we cut Alexander as a post June 1st guy?

Extend some of our guys now like Hill.

Im with ya bobbyk, get hill done long term, which will prob happen now cuz hes a ruskell guy, and it looks like trus contract wont be too bad. I want coleman, with him here, we can truely draft the BPA, with TE and K (late round) being our only needs. This is great stuff, thanks frank!

Well, if we have the cap space and if they are determined to cut Shaun, then I'd prefer they take the entire SA hit this year instead of defering 4.6M of it to next.

Just me though.

Great signing. Love Trufant's game and attitude. Seems like we got him at or below market value, and given the importance of the position, I don't get the complaints. I've read on more than one site, the comments of anonymous execs from other teams stating that Trufant was the top fee agent on their list. Having watched him his whole career, I am totally unconvinced by the argument that he just played harder b/c it was a contract year, I never saw that. Did he benefit from better safety and DL play, of course, every DB does, but I have no concern that he's the kind of player that will slack off now that he has the big contract.

I wonder if this had happened earlier if we would have then re-signed Hackett? Still, football season can't come soon enough for me. I'm not that much of a baseball guy, and the b-ball news of late just makes me depressed and angry.

Only poor people believe rich people actually pay taxes.

Athletes run their salaries thru their 'charitable foundations' (Trufant Family Foundation, etc) and at the end of the day have zero tax liability.

Athletes paying income tax is a cute concept, tho. Like the Easter Bunny and leprechauns. If believing in those make you feel better, go for it.

I'm glad it's finally sorted out although I think the overall deal is slightly on the high side - I was expecting somewhere in the region of $7.5m per year over 6 years [i.e. total deal worth $45m]. But all things considered, I'm happy...

So far, so good this offseason. Front office are doing a very sound job against a tight salary cap. Lost a couple of back-ups early [fact of life in the NFL: good team's back-ups move to poorer teams for a chance to start & more money] and an excellent kicker. Unfortunately, given our salary cap situation, there is virtually no way that we can afford a $2m kicker - the front office had to make a difficult [but prudent] decision. I'm not overall concerned about Hackett - no doubt, he has the potential to be a good player but he didn't contribute that much to this team's success over the last couple of years. On the plus side, we have addressed alot of the obvious needs, particularly in the running game. Julius Jones & Duckett could be a very effective 1-2 punch [thunder & lightning], Wahle will be an improvement at guard, there is a new coach [big Walt probably needs to hear a new voice...] and I think we can reasonably expect improvement from alot of our younger offensive linemen. Tight end is still an issue - although, Putzier is the kind of smart "low risk - potential high reward" signing that good teams make.

Next on the to-do list:
1. Decide on future of Alexander - probably very limited, if any, trade possibilities. Looks like he'll be cut - and if possible, it should be a pre-June 1st transaction so that there is no dead cap carried forward to next year. It's important not to restrict, where possible, Jim Mora's ability to make free agent signings next off-season.
2. Try to address remaining issues prior to draft - free agent kicker, long snapper, back-up linebacker, etc. - where financially viable.
3. Draft - rounds 1-3, in no particular order, should focus on run stuffing DT [what is the situation with Tubbs??], offensive lineman [tackle or guard] & tight-end. Remaining picks go on best player available.
4. Manage salary cap - perhaps restructure some contracts [Walter Jones?, etc.] in an attempt to sign key players to long term deals [specifically, Leroy Hill].

We really could be looking at a situation where we enter next off-season with no key contracts needing to be renewed - and with salary cap room to spare. But before then, this team should be winning the NFC West and challenging for the NFC Championship... then, who knows???

Go Seahawks!!!

"Only poor people believe rich people pay taxes." Really? Then why do the richest one percent pay nearly 40% of all income taxes??? And the richest 5% pay 60% (as of 2005). Maybe you should have said "only ignorant people think the rich don't pay taxes."

Let's stick with football comments shall we. Glad to see Tru agree to a contract that is good for him and cap friendly in the short term.

pdway- I don't think we would have resigned Hackett if this happened earlier. Carolina signed him to basically 25 dollars a year and that just says to me that the hawks said we weren't going to give him any money at all, he gets injured way too much.

Great signing though, Tru is the man and it seems more and more that players will do anything to play in Seattle, something I haven't seen my entire lifetime. I'm voting for Ruskell over Obama now.

Wow "Athletes run their salaries thru their 'charitable foundations' (Trufant Family Foundation, etc) and at the end of the day have zero tax liability."

Wow.......They can do this? Please elaborate....

Fire, your mom has your lunchable ready.

No, they cannot have "zero tax liability" by using family foundations. Absolute gibberish. Tax liability at these levels can be limited at the margins by appropriate tax planning, charitable giving, etc. But at $10 million per, there is no way on God's Green Earth you are going to have "zero tax liability", or anything close to it.

Athletes (and most rich people) pay a lower tax RATE relative to their income, but those actual dollars are huge.

Let's say that his gross income for 2008 ends up at $10M.
He can shave his taxable income down to a small percentage of that through charitable donations and other writeoffs, so let's say his tax liability drops to $1.25 M. He still he has to pay 40% of that.
So, that's ONLY 5% of his gross income, but that still $500K.
More than probably everyone here makes.

So yeah, he's reduced his tax liability by 87.5%, and is only paying 5% of his gross income as taxes, but that's still more that most of us will EVER pay in taxes.


Getting back to the point.
Yes, good signing.
I hope they're talking to Leroy next.
Although, if I remember correctly Franchise Tags for LBs aren't crazy, so I suppose we could wait.

I hear that gigantic Baker kid from USC might drop to #25.
It'd be nice having Big Walt's future replacement around now.

This is great news. I want Leroy Hill locked up now!!

Great news!

FYI: Everyone is only able to deduct up to 50% of their adjusted gross income. Assuming Trufant's AGI is $10 million, he is able to deduct $5 million by way of charitable giving (money he does not get back). He would end up saving approximately $1.75 million in taxes at the expense of $5 million in charitable giving. In the end, if his original tax bill is $3.5 million, his new tax bill is $1.75 million, but he now has actual income of $3.25 million instead of the $6.5 million he would have if no charitable donation had been made.

Please keep the talk to football. Especially if you do not fully understand our tax laws.

Um, I realize that April 15 is right around the corner but for the love of God, give it a rest. Thank you.

hill tapp and jennings will be the next to get deals.

besides adding draft picks and paying them the hawks might need to look at some small time free agents to fill some holes and add compettion in camp.

i would like to see former UDUB player come back in Larry triplett the 6 year vet which puts him around 28 29 years old he is a 6'2'' 300 lbs DT. or some other Dt's out thier like ian scott 6'3'' 300lbs florida and william joseph 6'5'' 310 from miami. with the loss of wyms, darby and with tubbs being completely worthless.

i think a free agent needs to be added to the Dt crew or a 1st day pick.

Hey Tru, If you are out there listening I'd just like to say that I'm available to use as one of your charitable donations, should you need some tax relief...

Great signing we locked up Ken Lucas Jr. fow 6 seasons.

I want Leroy Hill locked up now!!

What did bad, bad Leroy Hill do now?

Thank you all for making my point.

Where do I sign up for that 5% tax bracket?

fire

No one made your point. You and the goof who thought that athletes only pay 5% were shown how ignorant you both are.

BigGreenFrank's comment on "donations and writeoffs" reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kraemer says that certain expenses don't matter to corporations because they just "write it off." That was one funny episode.

Anyways back to football. Go Seahawks. Glad that both sides are happy with the deal.

Is it true that many pro athletes fund their foundations and then the foundations pay them a salary at a lower tax rate.

You can not receive a salary at a lower tax rate. The federal government taxes you on your total income - it is not the corporations/charitable organizations that tax you.

In 2008, regardless of where the income is coming from, any ordinary taxable income (salary income) in excess of $174,850 will be subject to the 35% tax bracket.

It is a fallacy that wealthy people are able to lower their tax bills (legally) by way of flowing their salaries through charitable organizations. It is possible to lower tax liabilities by way of utilizing corporations to pay for personal expenses (this is frowned upon by the IRS).

Again: Pro athletes are not able to lower their taxable income by flowing salary through a charitable organization. They are taxed on the income they receive.

taxes shmackses....... Take that crap back to H & R BLOCK. What do you think Leroy would do if you came at him talking about "taxable income"? He would punch you right in the nose, that's what he'd do.