OK, so here is the situation that Mike Holmgren finds himself in this week:

With only four days between now and the game against the Oakland Raiders, and his top three quarterbacks suffering some sort of injury, what does he do against the Raiders?

He certainly is not going to throw Matt Hasselbeck out there and risk having him injured just before the season opener in Buffalo. He does not yet know the severity of Charlie Frye's knee injury, though Frye said his knee was sore. And while Seneca Wallace played tonight, Holmgren said he did not even plan on allowing Wallace to throw a pass until they found themselves down by a point with 2 1/2 minutes left.

A lot of course will depend on what they say on Tuesday about Frye's injury and if that will restrict him. But it is an interesting question nonetheless: Who does Holmgren go with?

And before you say Dalton Bell, this was Holmgren's response when he was asked about playing Seneca late: "We didn't have any choice really. I wasn't going to put Dalton Bell in against them."

ESPN.com's John Clayton takes a look at the balance between losing free agents and gaining compensatory picks. We'll take a closer look at compensatory picks as the draft approaches.

The chart at right shows every player chosen with a compensatory choice in 2006. The Seahawks used one of those choices for WR Ben Obomanu, a player the team expects to challenge for playing time. Obomanu spent last season on the practice squad. The Seahawks signed him to the active roster during the playoffs, when injuries hit the position hard.

New Orleans used a later compensatory pick to land Marques Colston, one of the most productive rookie receivers in league history. The Saints had no idea Colston would be that good that soon, but that's one of the things that makes the draft interesting.

The league doesn't explain the process by which compensatory choices are dispensed, but the basics are fairly simple. Clayton explains them in his story. We previously linked to a Dan Pompei story breaking down compensatory picks over a longer period.

Rookie CB Kelly Jennings has finished speaking with reporters following the first training-camp practice of his NFL career. We have the audio here. Jennings signed a five-year deal worth more than $7 million. The deal can swell to $9.7 million if he meets incentives based largely on playing time. Like many deals, this one is complex enough so that both sides can claim "victory" in the negotiations. Jennings can reasonably say that $5 million is guaranteed. The Seahawks can reasonably say the deal is within the framework of other deals for players drafted at about the same place (Jennings was 31st overall). The bottom line is that Jennings is a wealthy man and the Seahawks have their first-round pick in camp. Photo credit: Bruce Kellman, The News Tribune

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Coach Mike Holmgren has finished speaking with reporters after the morning practice. I'd give you a little synopsis here if my fingers weren't frozen from standing outside in cold, blustery weather for two-plus hours (the life of a beat writer is soooooo rough). Holmgren did say that first-round CB Kelly Jennings has agreed to terms on a contract, and that Jennings would probably practice this afternoon. Holmgren audio is here.

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We learned during practice this morning that CB Kelly Jennings had agreed to terms on a contract, news coach Mike Holmgren welcomed. Holmgren said Jennings would probably even practice this afternoon. I'll have some additional notes momentarily.

Reports suggest the Bengals have agreed to terms with Johnathan Joseph, the corner they drafted with the 24th overall pick. This should help the Seahawks reach agreement with Kelly Jennings, the corner they took with the 31st pick. There are now fewer than 20 NFL draft choices without contract agreements. That number should come down today.

Signing draft picks is a non-event in the NBA because the contracts are pretty much pre-determined. It's a little different in the NFL, but there still isn't very much drama once you get outside the top handful of picks. We can look at the fourth-round signings and see that Seattle's Rob Sims will get a four-year deal for about $2 million, with perhaps $390,000 as a signing bonus. We can look at seventh-rounder Ben Obomanu and see that he'll probably get a four-year deal for a little less than $1.65 million, with somewhere approaching $35,000 to sign. Those deals have been determined by slotting at this point; it should be only a matter of time before the team makes announcements on those (players often sign upon arriving in Cheney for camp ... team meeting is Friday night). Sometimes there's a little more drama with the early picks. More money is at stake. That's why they sometimes don't get signed in time for camp. In Seattle's case, I have a hard time seeing guys miss significant portions of training camp. The picks simply aren't high enough to merit that kind of impasse, although anything is possible (Jerramy Stevens missed six days of the 2002 camp as the 28th player taken).

The Seahawks are announcing today that FB David Kirtman has signed his rookie contract with the team. From the official release: "The Seattle Seahawks have signed fifth-round draft choice (163rd overall) fullback David Kirtman to a multi-year contract, the team announced this afternoon. Kirtman, who attended Mercer Island High, started 18 of 46 career games at USC while helping the Trojans average 260.0 rushing yards per game his senior season as the team’s leading blocker. He becomes the second Seahawks draft choice to sign a contract, joining seventh-round choice punter Ryan Plackemeier."

NFL draft picks are starting to sign with greater frequency. ESPN noted late Tuesday night that the Hawks have reached agreement with seventh-rounder Ryan Plackemeier, punter from Wake Forest. Usually I'd be tracking such things, but this is really the only time of year when I can get some down time. Spent the Fourth manning the BBQ and keeping kids from getting too close to the fireworks, which are still raining down outside (Pierce County is unbelievable that way). In any event, this was one of those days where it was going to take more than a seventh-round signing to make me put down the BBQ tongs. I probably won't check in here until sometime Wednesday afternoon.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports today that Steelers rookie Willie Colon has agreed to a three-year contract worth $1,333,500. The deal includes a signing bonus of $283,500 with base salaries of $275,000, $350,000 and $425,000, according to the Post-Gazette. Why would we care when the Steelers sign a rookie guard chosen in the fourth round? Because the deal helps set the market for Rob Sims, the guard Seattle chose a few picks earlier. Pittsburgh selected Colon, a guard from Hofstra, with the 131st overall choice. Seattle chose Sims, a guard from Ohio State, with the 128th overall choice. Look for Sims to sign the same type of deal (first-year cap number just north of $370,000), and don't be surprised if he signs it a bit sooner now that Colon has set the market.

This will not be news to some of you die-hards, but others will be interested in checking out the detailed scouting reports on draft picks available through the league's Web site. And we do mean detailed. They break down a dozen categories for cornerbacks, as an example. We'll link to those scouting reports for Seattle's latest draft class, and provide a paragraph from each. Again, these are stunningly detailed reports.

CB Kelly Jennings: "Overall, he will be drafted higher than he's rated becauseof his 40 time and works out very well in postseason workouts. However, his lack of size, strength and inconsistent production will hinder his ability to become a good starter in the NFL. He will be able to start at corner, but due to his inconsistency will end up as a nickel back who does his best job on slot receivers."

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Seahawks president Tim Ruskell has finished his post-draft session. We have the audio here. He said the team plans to sign eight free agents tonight. Two or three others will get extended tryouts at the minicamp that begins Friday. Offseason is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

Ruskell said the team could pursue a veteran QB after the June 1 cuts. He said he wanted to add a tight end in the draft, but it didn't happen. And he wanted to get a return specialist, but that too did not happen (although they will try seventh-round WR Ben Obomanu there).

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