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A look at who might be moving and who might be staying in 2007 |
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I must start out by admitting to having a myopic view of the free agency period and just cannot for the life of me imagine why a player would want to leave the Seahawks to play for another team for a few dollars more.
Of course in recent years Seattle has found itself very much in the headlines in the free agency period with Walter Jones holding out of his contract and being repeatedly tagged as the franchise player. The drawn out saga of Shaun Alexander's one year extension before he put pen to paper on his multi year deal not to mention the deal Hasselbeck signed a couple of years ago.
Last season we sorted Shaun out early and looked to tie up Steve Hutchinson but ended up being surprised as the Vikings came up with the NFL's first poison pill contract in 12 years and an unmatchable $49 million "few dollars" more. The Seahawks organisation took a bit of flak for it but how anyone is supposed to predict an underhand practice that hasn't been used in so long, I really don't know. It should also be remembered that this all happened right in the middle of some very real doubts over whether a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) would even happen for the 2006 season.
This time around, whilst there aren't any huge names on the Seahawks free agents list, there are certainly some that we don't want to lose. It is also necessary to remember that there are three main types of free agents with different criteria applying to them all.
Firstly you have Exclusive Rights Free Agents (ERFA's) and the Seahawks have WR DJ Hackett and RB/FB Leonard Weaver in this situation. ERFA's are players whose contracts are up but who have 2 years or less accrued seasons in the NFL (seasons spent on the practice squad don't count). The good news is that assuming the Seahawks want to keep them then all they have to do is offer them a new contract which can be the minimum qualifying offer allowed by the CBA. The players have no bargaining power, they can't be forced to sign the contract but they cannot sign for another team. In the case of Hackett and Weaver both are highly thought of by the Seahawks and unless there are some concerns over Weaver's injury then you can expect both to be signing and being on the final roster for the Seahawks in 2007.
Next we have a slightly larger group of Restricted Free Agents (RFA's). On that list are S Jordan Babineaux, S Oliver Celestin, LB Niko Koutouvides, OT Sean Locklear, FB Josh Parry and DT Craig Terrill. RFA's are players with at least 3 years NFL accrued seasons whose contract have expired. If the Seahawks want to keep them they can tender them the minimum qualifying offer These players can enter into negotiations with other teams and sign an offer sheet with them but their own team then has 7 days in which to match that offer. If the offer is not matched then the player will sign for the other team but their original team will receive a draft pick equivalent to the round in which the player was originally drafted.
It is reasonable to assume that the Seahawks will certainly want to keep starters Jordan Babineaux, Sean Locklear and Craig Terrill. Babineaux was undrafted so in that case the Seahawks will receive no compensation if he signs for another team. Locklear was taken in the 3rd round with Terrill being taken in the 6th. As a rule teams do not like giving up high draft picks so it could be that other teams might come after Terrill or Babineaux seeing as they will have to give up only a 6th round pick or nothing in the case of Babineaux. Locklear's 3rd round pick might well put off other suitors.
Of the other players I suspect Koutouvides stands more chance than Celestin or Parry of being offered a contract but we will see on that score.
The largest group of free agents are the players who have been through restricted free agency and are now Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA's). These are players have at least 4 accrued seasons with no current contract with their team. They can negotiate and sign for any team with no compensation unless their current team designates them with a 'transition' tag or a 'franchise' tag. In short the transition tag can only be applied to 2 players and guarantees the player the average salary of the top 10 players at his position and allows the current team to match any offer another team might make.
The franchise tag can be used on only one player and guarantees him the salary of the average of the top 5 players at his position. Other teams can make them an offer but the current team can match that offer if they want to and crucially, if they do not, they receive 2 first round picks in compensation. Very few teams are going to give up 2 first rounders so it is a good way of keeping your most valuable player.
For 2007 the Seahawks UFA's are K Josh Brown, LS Jean Philippe Darche, WR Bobby Engram, G Chris Gray, TE Jerramy Stevens, S Ken Hamlin, TE Will Heller, LB DD Lewis, LS Derek Rackley, DE Kemp Rasmussen, RB Josh Scobey, DE Joe Tafoya, C Robbie Tobeck, CB Jimmy Williams and G Floyd Womack
That's 15 players and out of a similar sized list in 2006 about two thirds of them re-signed for the Seahawks but this season I'd expect maybe half of that list to be hanging around. The problem is, of course, not the players you want to release but the players you want to keep as these players are most likely to be in demand and at most risk of being lured by a contract from another team.
The three players that stand out on the list are Josh Brown, Jerramy Stevens (see below) and Ken Hamlin (pictured above). Brown has established himself not only as one of the most reliable kickers in the NFL but also as someone with the balls to kick long field goals with the last play of the game. There are teams out there who could well be ready to pay him some serious money and as strange as it might sound he could be the most likely player to be given the franchise tag if a long term deal cannot be agreed. Ken Hamlin also fits the reliability rating that will have other teams sniffing around but he is perhaps more replaceable than Josh Brown. The Seahawks stood by Hamlin through his 2006 problems, he is very well liked and it's tough to see him playing for another team but unless the Hawks are desperate to keep hold of him there might be no room for sentiment as far as he is concerned.
Bobby Engram could have played his last season in Seattle with age, injuries and illness against him. The emergence of Chris Spencer at Center might well mean that Robbie Tobeck will also be one of those not offered a new deal whilst the consistent and injury free Chris Gray might well get another season. As for Floyd Pork Chop Womack then more injuries and the solid play of rookie Rob Sims could threaten his place on the roster but the Seahawks might well give him another year.
Josh Scobey, DD Lewis and Joe Tafoya are likely to be amongst those offered a new deal on the basis that they are more than capable back ups. In addition they have performed well on special teams but have not been performing so well as to be attracting a lot of attention from other teams. At a stretch, and I know a couple of Seahawks fans who don't agree, Jimmy Williams could fit into this category.
Of the others the team like Darche at LS but Rackley has come in and done fine so it will most likely be one of the two with the smart money on Darche. Kemp Rasmussen and Will Heller might be guys at the end of their road with the Seahawks though Heller helped himself by filling in at FB in Denver.
It was thought that both Seneca Wallace and Jerramy Stevens were going to be UFA's this season but it appears that both of them might have signed unannounced contracts with the Hawks through the 2007 season. The news about Wallace broke a couple of in late November and on checking my facts for this article I noticed that Stevens was also signed through 2007.
UPDATE: It now transpires that although Jerramy Stevens contract is still listed to run through 2007 he actually met performance related targets through the 2005 season which allowed him to void the final year of his contract so he will also be an UFA in the close season. It's difficult to predict what will happen with Stevens. I can't see him being tagged but with the Seahawks so thin at TE they might try to keep him if only for continuities sake rather than start next season with 3 new TE's. The other factor is that his market value is very difficult to judge coming off an injury hit season where his performance has been a long way short of 2005.
One final note is a reminder that the 2006 Free Agency period took place whilst the was some real confusion over whether a new CBA would be agreed. As a result teams were working towards cap space budgets that were far lower than they actually turned out to be. As of May 2006 the Seahawks were listed as having $11.7 million available in cap space. Deion Branch took care of some of that but I think that the Hawks are still in a favourable position with regards to money available to sign free agents. In fact it could be that there is a lot more money sloshing around in the 2007 Free Agency period for all teams not just the Seahawks.
It's a situation we'll be keeping you up to date with as Free Agency progresses.
HawksHead (5/12/06) and updated 13/12/06)
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