Gary Wright, vice president of administration for the Seahawks, is retiring soon -- though he is taking over a similar position for the Sounders FC. I have known Gary for only a year, but the first time I met him, Dave Boling introduced him as "one of the greats." He received a standing ovation in the press box during the playoff game in Green Bay last season, believe me a rarity from sportswriters. The Seattle P-I's Greg Johns writes a very nice piece about an integral behind-the-scenes man who many of you likely don't know but should.

For those who want all things Seahawk, here are some inner workings of the organization. Here is the release:

The Seattle Seahawks have promoted Dave Pearson to Vice President/Communications & Broadcasting, the team announced today.

Pearson enters his 11th season with the club, spending the first six years as the Director of Public Relations before assuming the role of Director of Communications & Broadcasting in 2004. In 2007, Pearson and his staff were awarded the Pete Rozelle Award, given to the top media relations staff in the NFL, voted on by the Professional Football Writers of America.

He is responsible for shaping the team’s public image and serves as the liaison between the local and national media and the Seahawks’ front office, coaches and players. He also oversees all team publications, website content and the Seahawks broadcasting department.

Pearson started his career as an intern with the Seahawks in 1989 before being hired by the Houston Oilers the following season. He worked in Houston for two seasons before heading west to become the Assistant Director of Public Relations for the Los Angeles Rams in 1992. He returned to Houston before the 1994 season as the Director of Public Relations before moving back to Seattle in 1998.

A native of Tacoma, he graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a media relations and interpersonal communications degree. He and his wife, Beth, have two children; Allie and Chase.

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.

Former Raiders pro personnel scout Ed Dodds has joined the Seahawks in a similar capacity. Seattle had an opening after Lake Dawson left to join the Titans. Dodds had worked with Mike Lombardi in Oakland's front office.

Thanks to the reader who claimed that "most people on the current roster were brought in by (Mike) Holmgren" ... even though that's not quite the case. The subject is very much worth our attention. In fact, I've turned our 33-category roster into a 34-category roster as a result of this reader's contention. We now have a column showing "Ruskell Era" or "Holmgren Era" or even "Mueller Era" to connect players to the regimes that brought them aboard.

Holmgren was not general manager in 2003 and 2004, the final two years before Tim Ruskell became president, but his right-hand man at the time, Ted Thompson, was largely in charge of the draft. And Holmgren remained a driving force in the team's personnel decisions. Former vice president Randy Mueller, now GM in Miami, was instrumental in acquiring Mack Strong, Walter Jones and Chris Gray.

Now, on to the results of our analysis. The scorecard, counting players with NFL Europe exemptions: Ruskell 73 players, Holmgren 16 players , Mueller three players. A wide disparity was expected given that Ruskell was in charge of turning the 53-man roster into an 80-man roster, plus exemptions.

We also see that Ruskell has largely remade the starting lineup in two years with the team. Twelve of 22 starters are "Ruskell Era" players. Six are Holmgren guys. Three are Mueller guys, all on the offensive side. This is increasingly Ruskell's team, although Mueller and Holmgren brought aboard the three most important offensive players: Walter Jones, Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck. The departures of Darrell Jackson and Jerramy Stevens accelerated the shift to Ruskell's players.

Outgoing Packers chairman and CEO Bob Harlan details his hiring of Ted Thompson from the Seahawks in this excerpt from his book. The Packers had formally decided to pursue Thompson on Oct. 19, 2004, months before the news became public. Bob Whitsitt, then the Hawks' president, was so quick in granting the Packers permission to speak with Thompson that Harlan suspected ulterior motives: specifically that Whitsitt might be trying to undermine Mike Holmgren by facilitating the departure of a top ally.

"Within 45 minutes of sending the fax to Whitsitt, I did get permission to talk to Ted, which was very surprising. Sometimes it can take a day or two for that to happen. I've heard a lot of rumors about that. One of them was that Whitsitt thought letting one of Mike's best people go might have been a way for him to get back at him." -- Outgoing Packers chairman and CEO Bob Harlan

The Seahawks fired Whitsitt while Thompson was on his way to Green Bay. The Holmgren-Whitsitt divide is old news around here, but these details are interesting. In fairness to Whitsitt, we should note that Harlan and Holmgren worked together for years in Green Bay. We would expect Harlan to sympathize with Holmgren.

The Seahawks' decision to trade Darrell Jackson is the sort of thing that happens when a new personnel guy takes over. Tim Ruskell came aboard as team president in 2005. He inherited a fairly talented team that hadn't been able to win a playoff game under coach Mike Holmgren.

Which reminds us: Holmgren made some controversial moves upon his arrival as coach and general manager. He wanted to set up the roster a certain way -- his way -- and that meant pushing through changes that didn't always make sense on the surface. Until the Hawks won big with some of his new players in place (and also with players Ruskell added, notably Lofa Tatupu and Joe Jurevicius), quite a few fans and analysts criticized Holmgren for breaking up a team perceived to be on the verge.

First up was the contract dispute with Joey Galloway, a fight that ended with Holmgren trading the receiver to Dallas. Holmgren decided against re-signing Sam Adams, who went to Pro Bowls and won a Super Bowl elsewhere. He erred, by his own admission, in letting Phillip Daniels leave in free agency. Holmgren also decided he couldn't live with Ahman Green's fumbling, coming close to releasing Green before shipping him to the Packers in the Fred Vinson deal. ETC.

New personnel guys bring in new people at the expense of established players. That has happened here in Seattle, most recently (and dramatically) with this Darrell Jackson trade. Those looking for additional perspective can revisit our Holmgren GM timeline.

Seahawks president Tim Ruskell explained the process that led to trading Darrell Jackson's earlier today. Jackson, of course, was drafted by coach Mike Holmgren.

Here's what Ruskell had to say: "We talked it through. It was hard for coach. He is a big-hearted man, a good man, and he gets close to his players. He is that kind of coach. Any decision that will require in the end that a player will leave is going to be hard. They all are. It's not just Darrell. It's anybody that leaves this building. Because he wants to get to get close to his players and his players get close to him. He is a players' coach. But he understood the rationale. We talked it through and ultimately came to an agreement and we did that, the best thing for the team."

Former Seahawks exec Mike Reinfeldt has selected a safety in his first draft as general manager of the Tennessee Titans. Safety was considered a strong position in this draft. Reinfeldt played safety for the Houston Oilers. And yet there was no clear indication that Reinfeldt would take Michael Griffin, the strong safety from Texas.

Here's what Reinfeldt said about safeties in general when queried at the combine: "Safety is a position where you may not have to take a player as high (as cornerback). I think there are more intangibles that come into the safety position."

Former Seahawks pro scout Lake Dawson is already working for the Titans after taking a job with the team this week. Such moves usually wait until after the draft, but Ruskell said this one had been in the works (I had heard some rumblings, but nothing specific or solid). Hawks president Tim Ruskell said he's happy for Dawson. He also noted that Dawson had not been part of the predraft meetings, so he won't be taking those secrets to the Tennessee draft room.

Seahawks pro scout Lake Dawson is the Titans' new pro personnel director. The Titans announced his hiring while I was "coaching" my son's 5- and 6-year-old basketball team (Vince Lombardi and John Wooden could not control these kids in that type of setting, by the way). Back to Dawson: He's been the Hawks' assistant director of pro personnel for the last two seasons, working closely with pro director Will Lewis. He previously spent two years as an assistant in the pro personnel department. Dawson's hiring in Tennessee comes as no surprise given that he worked with Titans GM Mike Reinfeldt in Seattle. Dawson also predated Hawks president Tim Ruskell in Seattle. Does he take any well-guarded secrets to Tennessee? Perhaps a couple, but with Reinfeldt onboard, Tennessee was already doing OK in that department.

The first full day of the NFL meetings has finished. I've recently filed two stories for the paper, and I'll be grabbing some dinner shortly. No one else remains in the media tent -- the last remaining holdout just departed -- so I must be doing something wrong. Before bailing, I'll pass along a few tidbits, a few of which will be developed further in our Tuesday coverage.

• Seahawks CEO Tod Leiweke was instrumental in the $430 million revenue-sharing plan adopted by a 30-2 vote today. He was part of an eight-member committee, along with Houston Texans owner Bob McNair and others, that spent the last year working toward this agreement. Their proposal passed by an 8-0 vote in committee. Its passage represented a major victory for new commissioner Roger Goodell.
• The Seahawks' efforts to trade Darrell Jackson haven't gained much traction yet. The team appears more likely to keep him at this point, although things can certainly change, particularly on draft day.
• Coach Mike Holmgren was pretty optimistic about the offense today when I asked him about the offensive line and the situation at tight end. He likes Marcus Pollard. He expressed confidence in Rob Sims and Chris Spencer. He said he won't be worried if Chris Gray returns, figuring they'll be OK at right guard if they can choose between Floyd Womack, Gray and one or two draft choices.
• The digital media committee, chaired by Hawks owner Paul Allen, is not meeting here in Phoenix. Allen is not attending these meetings. But I have spoken to a few members of the committee. We'll explore that one a little later this week.