16 Free Agents, 16 Days To Go

WHO do they think they are kidding?

Free agency begins March 2. Sixteen Seahawks are scheduled to no longer be part of the organization. They will take the best offer that comes their way, and perhaps be gone.

A few weeks later, the NFL draft begins. Ex-Seahawks college scouting director Scot McCloughan left for San Francisco, taking his knowledge and insight with him. He has not yet been replaced.

These two events are the foundation of everything Seahawk. Fans support winning teams. Winning teams are built on good players. Good players are acquired in these critical processes. It sets up the entire next season, and seasons to come.

Before he was fired, Bob Whitsitt led this team into the worst free agent circumstances in the NFL. Getting rid of him was a good thing for the Seahawks. But the accomplishments of those temporarily filling the power void have been atrocious.

What has been accomplished so far? We have a special teams coach, that's nice. Urban got a raise, and we signed some scrubs, Jason Willis and Ron Smith, neither of which I would know from Adam. Whoop-de-freakin'doo.

What's left to do? General manager Bob Ferguson and pro personnel director Will Lewis are supposedly getting ready for these two key recruitment events. But will they have the authority, resources, and gumption necessary to 1) get the best players, 2) get the best players signed, and 3) do everything just the way Holmgren wants, or risk further FO power struggles?

The only way to know is after the fact. The proof will be in the proverbial pudding. They may pull it off, but I have my doubts.

So they are in charge of acquiring players. How are we doing in the matter of retaining the good players we currently have? It's really unbeleivable that it has gone on this long. The best of these players should have been signed on last year, even during the season. What kind of message are we sending to the prospective free agents in the market? Obviously one that says "we don't take care of our own". We don't really retire numbers (there's the No.80 thing again) and we don't do anything to make sure that our key players are locked in. After all, what team builds around top quality skill players? Aparrently not the Seahawks. Their best players will be ripe for the picking in a few days.

How is Mike Reinfeldt going to sign 16 players in 16 days? I know, I know, a lot of these players will be let go deliberately. But clearly this team is up against a wall. How many NFL teams will even sign just two or three of their own players between now and the deadline? Traditionally, not many. I don't see the Seahawks being much different, especially without a GM.

While Reinfeldt is at it, I was wondering if he could send some manna to all the tsunami victims, and maybe cure cancer. Give me a break. Mike, I know you're in a tight spot, but sign someone already! Show the world that the Seahawks are truly in pursuit of excellence. Send a message to all the prospects. The image of this organization needs to change NOW.

Then there is the matter of actually hiring a captain for this ship that is in danger of running aground. Have you seen who is in charge of that? Paul Allen has put the search for a new GM in to the hands of, IMO, two long time board room brown nosers:

Hoon Cho is in charge of private equity investment of Allen's Vulcan Capital, self-dubbed as the "private investment group of Vulcan Inc., the organization founded by Paul G. Allen in 1986 to manage his personal and professional endeavors." In other words, It's his cash cow. Hoon has creds from Princeton and Harvard. His experience of the NFL and it's deadlines: NONE. I wonder if he even knows what a 'draw' play is.

Then there is Bert Kolde. A very impressive piece of his resume' is that he was Paul Allen's roomate in college. Now he is the COO of Digeo, one of Allen's companies, where he helped them win an Emmy for "Best TV User Interface Design". Nice football cred, huh? Dont' be alarmed by his picture, I don't think he really has down syndrome.

Both of these pencil-pushers have no NFL experience, but they for some reason serve on the Seahawks' board of directors, and they have the special assignment of working with Tod Leiweke and Mike Holmgren to find a new GM. These two just seem to be part of Allen's 'trusted' inner circle, so they are perceived by him as people that can do anything. It's like Bob Whitsitt all over again, x2.

I don't think the front office is resting on their laurels, but I do think that they are in a state of semi-organized chaos. There are no clearly defined lines of authority or duty. How a team that is on the brink of being so good as an organization is letting this happen to them is beyond me.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

The loss of McCloughan on Jan. 14 was completely avoidable. According to the Seattle PI, "he went to the 49ers -- despite wanting to stay with the Seahawks as a possible replacement for Thompson -- because no one was in place to either match the five-year, almost $4 million offer he received or assure him there was a new job for him in the club's yet-to-be-determined hierarchy.

"Instead, all McCloughan knew was that his contract was scheduled to expire in June and the 49ers were making him an offer that was difficult to decline."

This very same thing is threatening the roster. Will some of the best players in the NFL be snatched from our hands at 12:01am on March 2nd? I certainly hope not, but this hope is not based on any evident realities.