Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Franchise Holdout, the sequel...

For those of us who love Shaun, and would like to keep him around for a few more years, it appears we have good news. While the Hawks are open to trading him (the most recent rumor involves Westbrook and a pick) profootballtalk.com is reporting that they also have a plan in keeping him:

"Because Alexander wants (we hear) a signing bonus in the range of $15 million to $20 million on a long-term contract, the Seahawks will instead continue to apply the franchise tag to Alexander until either an acceptable long-term deal can be negotiated or the team opts to let him hit the open market due to, for example, injury or diminished skills.

Seattle adopted a similar approach to left tackle Walter Jones, who wore the tag for three straight seasons before signing a long-term contract last month."


To me, this means that they will be trying for a long term deal, the same as they did for Jones. It might be a long shot, but it worked on Walter, maybe we can get Shaun in long term within the next 2 years.

6 comments:

  1. I don't think so.

    The waiting game works better for an Offensive Tackle than for a Running Back, from both the team and the player's standpoints.

    The team doesn't want a RB to hold out of pre-season work outs, training camp, and come back to the team with his chin on the ground. The RB position is all about speed and timing and desire, and you can't get that from someone who doesn't practice, or who feels slighted by the FO.

    The life-span of a RB is much shorter than an LT, and the risk of injury on any given play is also exponentially greater. This is why Walter could wait out the Seahawks, cuz he knew he could come in do his job, and eventually they'd sign him long term, or someone else would.

    Shaun doesn't have the luxury of time, and can't risk injury.

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  2. Agreed. More than the money issues, I want Shaun to 1) Not miss camp, A RB HAS to be there, like NY says, and 2) Have a great, motivated season like last year. Everything else is secondary.

    I'm pretty close to dismissing that article as speculation.

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  3. I definitely see your point on the time shortage for both sides, but only think that strengthens the chances of getting him signed. He's seeing that there isn't alot of call for RB's right now, and that his asking bonus of $20 mill might be too high. I gues I'm being optimistic, mostly because other things are falling into place for the team.

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  4. The problem is that there has been NO effort from the FO to work out a deal to this point, which translates into that they really don't want him here, or not at what it would take to sign him.

    Shaun's time to cash in is NOW, being the second leading rusher by 3-feet. Playing another year without a long-term contract is too risky, cuz he can only go down from there, or get hurt.

    The bottom line is "respect", and I'm sure he's felt none, so his attitude may be already beyond repair.

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  5. A subscriber on the ST site pointed out that the picture of Shaun on this post is from the Pro Bowl two years ago.

    Maybe we're on to something here...trade Shaun not to another team but to the NFL itself. He won't have to play the regular season, just the Pro Bowl, where there's no blocking responsibilities, cuz there's no blitzing, and it will be all about his yards and TDs.

    He'll be able to sign a 10-12 year contract, since playing only one game a season will extend his career, and since nobody cares who actually WINS the Pro Bowl, he'll always get the ball on goal line stands, instead of using a QB sneak to score the winning TD.

    Since we're trading him to the NFL offices, they'll be able to give us an extra first round draft pick, or give us $6 million extra cap dollars to use to replace him.

    I think this could work!

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  6. LOL, you crack me up Alba.

    And great points veryone, the only thing I'll disagree withis his ability to see that he's asking too much, in his mind he's the best HB out there and therefore I can't see his ego allowing him to back down.

    That being said, the best thing in my opinion is to let him go and get a Back that fits.

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