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By Dave Wyman
So the Hawks are facing their old left guard Steve Hutchinson this weekend in Minnesota and I thought we should all take a look at the Hutch debacle. Look….I liked the guy too. When it's all said and done, he could end up being one of the best guards to ever play the game. But here's an interesting fact I think we're all overlooking….HE'S A GUARD!!! Alex Gibbs, the offensive line coach in Denver when I played there is one of THE finest football coaches in the league (He's now with the Texans). His favorite quote to his offensive line was, "Hell, I can get a bum on the highway to play guard! Get me a good left tackle!" In Mora's press conference this week, somebody asked if the Hawks were going to game plan around Hutchinson. (Again….HE'S A GUARD!). After I wiped up the water I blew out through my nose, I started to reflect on the entire Hutch situation.
So here's the deal: If you want to say that the Hawks should've resigned him during the '04 or '05 season... fine. I have no quarrel with you there. But, I want to ask everyone this question: Did you recognize how good he was at that time? Be honest with yourself because I really believe that Hutch didn't become great in everyone's mind until he signed that $49 million deal. Remember in the '05 Redskin game when Shaun Alexander didn't pick up that first down? That play ended a game winning drive and lead to a loss in overtime. Yeah, that play was run over the left guard.
Sure we all knew he was good but were we ready to spend $49 million on... A GUARD?!
But outside of the Hawks not signing him before his contract expired, let's look at what they did do at the time. Of all the options available, Seahawk management really did Hutch a "solid" by putting the Transit ion Tag on him. This allowed him to go out and shop himself on the open market and then come back to the Hawks and say, "If you want to keep me, here's what everyone else out there thinks I'm worth." And think about that. The Hawks essentially told him this: We're not going to pay you what we think you're worth. We're not going to pay you what other offensive lineman get paid….we're going to pay you what every other team in the league thinks you're worth. That is the difference between selling your old couch at a garage sale in your neighborhood versus selling it on eBay! The Hawks allowed him to go out into the market.
Let me put it to you another way: If you were a hotshot employee at Safeway and it was time to renew your contract, which of the following would be the best option for you:
A) Sit down with management at Safeway and listen to them tell you what they think you're worth.
B) Go to Albertson's, Whole Foods, QFC and Piggly Wiggly and see what they think you're worth and then take your best offer back to Safeway.
And in the Seahawks' defense, they thought they would get to enter the last bid at the eBay auction. And so did everyone else until the NFL allowed this ridiculous "poison pill" clause agent Tom Condon wrote into the contract. The spirit of the Transition Tag was that the original team would get the opportunity to match the contract no matter what. THE END! This particular poison pill made that impossible and the NFL, for whatever reason, allowed it. As super-lawyer Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld would say: "It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous."
So if you want to get mad at someone over this whole thing, here is a list of people to be mad at:
1) Steve Hutchinson
2) Steve Hutchinson's agent
3) The NFL
4) Steve Hutchinson
5) The NFL
Be careful selecting option #1 & #4. I interviewed Hutch in the locker room after practice one day. Scariest human being I've ever been around.
All of that aside, here's one argument in favor of paying Hutch, A GUARD, whatever he wanted: That crap last Sunday when Darnell Dockett shoved his forearm into Matt Hasselbeck's neck…that would've been "handled"….by Hutch. Hutch was a quiet leader but he was THE Alpha Dog.
Man I miss Hutch!
Matt Pitman covers the Seattle Seahawks for 710 ESPN Seattle
and MyNorthwest.com. Matt has reported on Seattle sports
since 2000 and is the host for the Mariners pre and post game
shows on 710 ESPN Seattle. Follow Matt on Twitter @mattpitman
For the past 5 years, David Wyman has been a part of the
Seahawks pre and post game team on KIRO-AM and KIRO-FM. Dave
is a former NFL linebacker. He was a 2nd round draft choice
of the Seattle Seahawks in 1987 and was a 5-year starter for
the Hawks before signing a free-agent contract with the
Denver Broncos in 1993.Copyright © 2010 Bonneville International. All rights reserved.
