Seattle Seahawks Aim for Future Success with Offseason Moves

(Photo by Jeff Golden/Getty Images)

Are the Seattle Seahawks aiming towards the future or are they aiming to win now?

Truthfully, it’s a little bit of both.

This offseason, if you examine who the Seahawks have signed, traded for, or drafted you could clearly see that they are trying to win now but also build towards the future.

The Seahawks had needs at wide receiver, safety, running back, corner back, depth on the offensive line, and a future quarterback.

Through free agency, the Seahawks filled two of those needs. They signed wide receiver T.J Houshmandzadeh to a five-year, $40 million contract.

The signing of T.J. falls into the category of winning now because he gives the Seahawks a true No. 1 wide receiver, but at the same time it falls into the category of building to the future.

Housh will be the Seahawks' No. 1 wide receiver for five years, until they draft the next Andre Johnson, which could be A.J Green from Georgia—that’s the future.

Seattle also signed defensive tackle Colin Cole to a five-year, $21 million contract. That signing falls into the same one as Housh. The only difference is he’s a lot younger than Houshmandzadeh, so he will be around longer into the “future.”

The next move is what made the Seahawks offseason interesting.

They traded Pro Bowl linebacker Julian Peterson, who only fit the “win now” category, to the Detroit Lions for DT Cory Redding and a fifth-round pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

That began to show that the Seahawks were not just aiming to win now but to build to the future. What added to that speculation was when the Seahawks restructured Redding’s contract. It states that he will be a free agent next year; he’s going to make only $2 million this season.

They just blew up the rest of his contract. So, for Redding it’s a one and done.

After the draft, the Seahawks used the free cap space, which was created when the Seahawks let of Leroy Hill, to sign CB Ken Lucas to fill a hole at CB opposite Marcus Trufant.

Now, for the 2009 NFL draft. The Seahawks had the fourth overall pick, the highest pick since 1997. So, with the Seahawks having MLB Lofa Tatupu already in the fold, and Leroy Hill refusing to sign the franchise tender, the Seahawks lucked out.

The Kansas City Chief’s passed on OLB Aaron Curry for DE Tyson Jackson. So it was too easy for Seattle.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell strolled to the podium and announced the following: "With the fourth pick in the 2009 NFL draft, the Seattle Seahawks select, Aaron Curry, linebacker, Wake Forest."

Which was great for the Seahawks because they didn’t know about Hill, they traded away Peterson, and Aaron Curry was the best player in the draft and the best player available on the board when the Seahawks picked at four.

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