Special Master Rules Against Seahawks

Surprise, surprise!

* * * UPDATE INFO FROM SANDO - 8:09PM EST * * *

Hutch deal guaranteed if Hawks match

NFLPA attorney Richard Berthelson just explained to me over the phone exactly what happened in the Steve Hutchinson case and what it means. Basically, it means that Seattle has to guarantee the $49 million in Hutchinson's contract if the team matches the offer sheet from Minnesota. The Seahawks have until 9 p.m. PST do match or lose Hutchinson to the Vikings. If and when Hutchinson becomes a Viking, his deal with Minnesota will not be guaranteed. But it will be guaranteed if the Seahawks match the offer.

Here is what happened according to Berthelson:

The Vikings made an offer to Hutchinson that specified that he must be the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team for the duration of 2006 or else the entire $49 million is guaranteed. The offer specifically said that he had to be the highest-paid guy at the time he signed the offer sheet. The Seahawks wanted to change the terms so that the money would be guaranteed only if Hutchinson were not the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team at the time Seattle matched the offer. Seattle then went about reworking Walter Jones' contract so that Hutchinson's offer would average more money per year, thereby making Hutchinson the highest-paid guy if and when Seattle matched. "Their plan was to argue that the offer sheet the Vikings had given to Hutchinson should be interpreted to be saying he only had to be the highest-paid player at any time in the year," Berthelson said. "It was a pretty fractured interpretation of the language and the special master didn't buy it. The only way for Seattle to win was for the special master to agree to that interpretation."

Berthelson added that it was a "longshot" for the Seahawks to win this hearing today "because the plain meaning of the words used and the circumstances surrounding it leads to the inescapable conclusion that the Vikings meant for him to have to be the highest-paid offensive lineman for the whole year beginning with the offer sheet."

Berthelson said a special master can allow changes to a contract only if the player agrees and/or the changes benefit the player.


* * * ORIGINAL POST * * *

From Sando:

"Special master" Stephen Burbank ruled against the NFL Management Council and the Seahawks today in their attempt to match the Vikings' offer to LG Steve Hutchinson under altered terms. That means the Seahawks have until midnight tonight EST to match the Vikings' offer to Pro Bowl LG Steve Hutchinson, or he will become a Viking.

A clause in the offer called for the full $49 million to become guaranteed if Hutchinson weren't the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team in 2006. The Seahawks tried to get around that be reworking the deal of LT Walter Jones. They had also apparently tried to alter terms of the offer in some way.

"Special master Stephen Burbank has determined that the additional language that the Seahawks proposed to include in the Steve Hutchinson contract would alter a principle term of the Vikings' offer sheet," league spokesman Michael Signora said today. "The Seahawks have until midnight Eastern to decide if they'll match the original offer sheet."


One guy over there posted something that summed up what I was thinking:

Bnemhaus: It sure seems like this opens Pandora's box. I can't imagine what kind of clauses we'll start seeing now. I'm shocked.

Bullseye...im gonna become an agent now and start putting in secret clauses that cause my clients to get a 100 million dollar raise if they are in a Blue uniform...