Talking Points: Ruskell/Seahawks approach to free agency

As we are told by the mainstream media bobbleheads, the NFL is a copycat league; any successful team’s schemes and strategies, uniform colors, caterers and therapists are duplicated, although rarely with similar results. Assuming Seahawk success next year, and I am, will we be the template for a new approach to free agency? What I am referring specifically is the ability to exercise patients and sign high effort and high character replacement players without over paying.

Notable Seahawks losses:

CB Ken Lucas (FA, CAR) - Important part of our defense, tough loss, expensive.
DE Chike Okeafor (FA, ARZ) - Another important part of the D, sack leader last year, bad attitude?
LB Chad Brown (cut) - Locker room leader, injury prone and spendy, but another tough loss. Will sign somewhere, perhaps back with us?
QB Trent Dilfer (trade, CLE) - Another leader, another tough loss, but a backup player on our team. Trading him honored him and his wishes to start.
LB Anthony Simmons (cut) - Talented player, injury prone, locker room problem, not yet signed.
OT Chris Terry (cut) - Talented player, suspension prone, locker room problem, not yet signed.

Notable Seahawks signings:

LB Kevin Bentley (FA, CLE) - Decent player, cheap, will be a quality rotational player with the ability to start and put up 80 tkls/season. Depth signing.
DT Chartric Darby (FA, TB) - Decent player, cheap, will be in the DT rotation, ability to put up 40-50 tkls and a sack or two/season. Depth signing.
CB Andre Dyson (FA, TEN) - Talented player, smaller than Lucas, Int stats the same as Lucas, less tackles and PD. Direct replacement.
DE Bryce Fisher (FA, STL) - Talented player, bigger and cheaper than Okeafor with similar stats, local boy. Direct replacement.
CB Kelly Herndon (RFA, DEN) - Talented player, big heart, smaller than Lucas, and not as much of a ball hawk, PD and tckl stats similar to Lucas, but much cheaper. Will battle with Dyson for second CB; expect he'll be the third CB.
WR Joe Jurevicius (cut, TB) - Talented player, huge, huge-er heart. Has always been a #3 WR. Makes tough catches, operative word being catches
WR Jerome Pathon (cut, NO) - Talented player, has always been a #3 WR but great YPC.
LB Jamie Sharper (cut, HOU) - Talented player, tackling machine, durable. Can play any LB position, replaces Chad Brown or Simmons, and frankly both, did they put up 16 games a season together for the last 3 years?

Notable Seahawks re-signings:

QB Matt Hasselbeck - Franchise. Got paid, but not over-paid.
OT Walter Jones - Would be the franchise if it weren't for Matt. Sets the bar at both pay and play for LTs
OL Floyd Womack - Versatile, plays almost any position on the line, great depth player, good enough to start RG or RT on this team.
TE Itula Mili - He catches, something much appreciated.
WR Alex Bannister - Special team’s master, made the Pro Bowl, signed at or near minimum.
C Robbie Tobeck - Huge heart, smart, has special relationship with Matt, signed at or near minimum.
RB Shaun Alexander - Franchise and franchise tagged. His 6Mil hit this year isn't very nice, but then neither is the franchise tag. Letting him go with no compensation is worse in my opinion than the cap hit.

So if you believe my analysis, we have re-signed all but two of our notable FAs, re-signed six, got replacement players for the FAs lost, got replacements for the locker room problems and the cap casualty, and our only glaring need is a backup QB. All without putting ourselves in cap hell, on a meager budget, by what major media called a front office in disarray.

What I wonder is, assuming Seahawk success, and I still do, is what is going to happen in the 2006 free agency period. I imagine a staring contest, not one FA signed on day one, not one signed during week one. No team willing to over pay anyone. Everybody waiting for someone else to sign the high priced guys. Why pay Champ Bailey money (or Ken Lucas money) when you can pay Kelly Herndon money with similar results?

Ahh, it'll never happen, Dan Snyder isn't selling the Redskins...