Wow, we've been slacking.
The NFL is in a bit of disarray, the start of free agency has been delayed like 3 times already, and Seattle has re-signed last year's MVP (you can read more about the contract on ESPN.), and we been pretty quiet about it. So I'll chime in a bit now.
8 years, $62 million. The biggest contract given to a running back, ever. It beats the 8 year, $60 million contract signed by LaDainian Tomlinson 2 years ago, and Tomlinson is a few years younger and has less mileage on him.
But here's the thing: Only $15.1 of that $62 million is guaranteed. For comparison, Seattle guaranteed Hasselbeck $16 million and Walter Jones over $20 million last year. And Alexander's new contract is structured in such a way to not really hurt their salary cap. Although the exact year-by-year breakdown has not been released, the reports say that he'll count between 5 and 6 million against this year's cap - about the same or less as he counted against the cap last year when he was franchised.
Last week, in what now seems like anticipation of Alexander being close to agreeing, Seattle cut LB Jamie Sharper and CB Andre Dyson, which saved them almost 7 million in cap space. Sharper missed like the final 6 games of the season with a nasty staph infection in his knee and became expendable when the "other" rookie linebacker, Leroy Hill, played excellent in his place. Dyson was signed last offseason as a starting CB, but he was injured a lot as well (including early in the Super Bowl) and just did not proove he deserved to stay at the price we were paying him.
So it looks like Seattle has locked up their two big name free agents (Alexander and Hutchinson) and still have about $10 million worth of cap room to keep some other key players like fullback Mack Strong, backup QB Seneca Wallace, WR Joe Jurevicius, and maybe even defensive tackle Rocky Bernard.
I have to say, the front office has been absolutely fucking phenomenonal since hiring Tim Ruskell as their president about a year ago. Faced with losing Hasselbeck, Jones, Hutchinson, and Alexander in a two-year span, all Pro Bowlers and arguably top 5 in the NFL at their positions, he's managed to keep all of them. That in itself would have been impressive. But to have done so while still keeping Seattle in excellent shape regarding the salary cap... it's borderline genius. Not to mention how well the players from his first draft have looked.
I didn't get the chance to write the article on Alexander I wanted to, about whether he'd stay or go. But basically, it would have looked something like this:
Alexander has to be crazy to leave. He has the chance to not only go back to another Super Bowl or two with this team, but a chance to be one of the best running backs of all-time. At least, numbers-wise. The offensive line is great, and will only get better (as young right tackle Sean Locklear improves and last year's first round pick Chris Spencer grows into the starting position). His fullback opens monstrous holes for him. The Seattle offense sets up the run with the pass. His quarterback is good enough to execute that gameplan, and smart enough to audible to runs for huge gains.
Seattle should want to keep him. Despite the emergence of Hasselbeck and Tatupu on the national stage via the Super Bowl, it's Alexander who became the face of the team during the regular season with his run towards the TD record. Could they plus in another running back into this offense and behind that line and still get huge numbers out of him? Probably. But why mess with success?
Yes, Alexander is pushing 30, the point when running backs start to slow down a bit. But one of the knocks on Alexander has been "he's soft" because he'll step out of bounds or slide down when there's nowhere to go rather than take a big hit. You know what though? That might be "smart" more than "soft". What if those moves add another 2 years to his career? Even if he does decline rapidly in two or three years, so what? That's the beauty of NFL contracts (from an owner/organizational point of view at least) : cut his ass.
So, if Alexander is not greedy and does not insist on testing the free agent waters (which he might find a bit frigid), and Seattle can put together a deal that does not totally mess up their salary cap number for the next few years, I think he'll stay right here.
Of course, it's easy for me to write that now. But that's really what I would have written anyways. :P
