Whew! Seattle Seahawks fans can breathe a sign of relief.
Team president Tim Ruskell actually did what he was supposed to this time, placing the franchise tag on the team's top pending free agent. So the Seahawks, who lost All-Pro guard Steve Hutchinson in 2006 because Ruskell refused to pay top dollar, will keep Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Trufant.
The team tendered Trufant the one-year franchise offer Wednesday, which means he will make $9.465 million in 2008 if he signs and plays under the tender.
The Seahawks also retains the right to match any offer sheet he might sign with another team. If the Seahawks chose not to match the offer, they would receive two first-round draft picks from the signing team.
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Ruskell obviously learned from his 2006 mistake, when he chose to use the less restrictive transition tender on Hutchinson just to avoid starting negotiations at $7 million per year. Hutchinson ended up signing a poison-pill contract with Minnesota, and the Seahawks opted not to match because they would have had to guarantee the entire seven-year, $49 million contract.
Little did Ruskell know that figure would become the standard for all linemen as of the next offseason.
This time, Ruskell knows the price for a marquee cornerback like Trufant is about $9 million per year and the team boss obviously is willing to retain the rights to one of his best defenders. The Seahawks surely will continue to negotiate with Trufant in hopes of reaching a long-term contract. But that won't be much cheaper than the $9.5 million franchise tender.
The gold standard for contracts by cornerbacks was reached last offseason, when Nate Clements signed an eight-year, $80 million deal with San Francisco. For all intents and purposes, it is a six-year deal worth $52.8 million, with over $22 million guaranteed. That is where the talks began between the Seahawks and Trufant.
They have until July 15 to reach a long-term deal, or else Trufant will end up playing for the one-year, $9.465 million in 2008 and be completely free in 2009. Completely free because the Seahawks would have to pay him $11.4 million in 2009 if they still didn't have an extended contract.
For now, however, Trufant figures to remain a Seahawk for at least another year because Tim Ruskell did what he was supposed to do.
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