Steve Hutchinson?

[Seahawker]

Ok, seems like I have high propensity of posting & killing threads, dead in the dirt, I hope this one follows suit.
Hutch & Jones probably best left side ever, SA37 owes mega stats to them.
Twenty years later SH thumbs up Haynes for the Hawks & a bunch on .net push him towards the shark pen.
It's been covered, it's over. Chill. Or not.
I'd like to hear discussion about our 3rd year OT's & young IOL and how our strong O-weapons could flourish.
This thread belongs in the Seahawks slight thread in how the league has screwed us so many times as a South Alaska after thought.
Whatever, Hutch & his agent got paid, Ruskell dumb azzed it.
Walt was our greatest player ever, it was Steve's loss.
I miss great football, I care about Haynes, not Hutch.

 

[BlueTalon]

It's not the point, the point is, he was promised by the GM the Franchise tag..Holmgren even confirmed it with him and while Holmgren was on vaca..he was awarded the Trans tag...BTW you know if the trans tag is so good, why has there been only like 6 since its inception awarded to players?

Most guys who get the franchise tag do NOT look at it as a privilege, or like the team is doing them a favor by franchising them. They look at it like the team doesn't want to do a long term deal and pay them like they want to be paid for years, plural. They didn't "promise" to franchise Hutch, they informed him that was the plan. It was more of a threat than a promise.

The whole point of the transition tag is to allow the player to negotiate the best deal he can for himself with a new team, which Hutch did, and give the current team the right of first refusal, while guaranteeing a significant income for the player in the event he doesn't get the offers from other teams he thought he was going to get. And if the Vikings had structured their offer in such a way that it would have been difficult-to-impossible for the Seahawks to match it in terms that would have applied equally to the Vikings, like frontloading the hell out of it, that would have been perfectly legit. (By the way, that was the sort of thing "poison pill" referred to before Hutch.) Nobody, and I mean nobody, could have foreseen what the Vikings would end up doing, because it literally had never been done before. And they couldn't have done it without Hutch's help. And the Special Master's help.

As for why the transition tag hasn't been used much? Most teams who want a player enough to tag him want to keep him locked up, usually after negotiations have failed. They aren't interested in facilitating negotiations at that point.

 

[LeveeBreak]

I hope the vikes lose their division for the rest of eternity!

 

[Jac]

I hope the vikes lose their division for the rest of eternity!

I mean they're already in a special place in sports hell. They lost the SB four times in the 70's and then even though they've built several championship worthy teams in the subsequent decades, they never even went back.

 

[Rat]

I mean they're already in a special place in sports hell. They lost the SB four times in the 70's and then even though they've built several championship worthy teams in the subsequent decades, they never even went back.

Yep.

Vikings: .545 winning % (8th all-time), zero SB championships

Bucs: .406 winning % (32nd all-time), two SB championships

 

[Rat]

I have a difficult time believing that Hutch was happy in Seattle, but turned because he couldn't reconcile the alleged slight of being given a lesser tag. As BlueTalon pointed out, most players don't like the franchise tag (as evidenced by Walter Jones), and the ones who dislike it most are top-of-the-market guys like Hutch, who would otherwise have teams bidding against each other to hand him an historic, lucrative long-term deal. Yeah, it's a nice one-year payday, but it puts them at enormous risk if they get hurt, or their play suffers for some other reason.

Hutch clearly took advantage of the situation. I don't blame him for that; I think any of us would jump to exploit a loophole that would allow us to secure our long-term future at a place we want to live and work. I just don't buy that this was a reaction to perceived disrespect from the Seahawks organization.

Ruskell did drop the ball on this, but I have a difficult time imputing him a great deal. It was an unprecedented situation and I think it was more a case of being taken advantage of than an egregious display of incompetence. From what I remember of the fan discourse at the time, I was far from alone in thinking it was a shrewd move with little downside. The thinking was likely that it would speed up contact negotiations so that we wouldn't end up with another franchise-by-year situation like we had with Big Walt.

 

[BlueTalon]

I have a difficult time believing that Hutch was happy in Seattle, but turned because he couldn't reconcile the alleged slight of being given a lesser tag. As BlueTalon pointed out, most players don't like the franchise tag (as evidenced by Walter Jones), and the ones who dislike it most are top-of-the-market guys like Hutch, who would otherwise have teams bidding against each other to hand him an historic, lucrative long-term deal. Yeah, it's a nice one-year payday, but it puts them at enormous risk if they get hurt, or their play suffers for some other reason.

Hutch clearly took advantage of the situation. I don't blame him for that; I think any of us would jump to exploit a loophole that would allow us to secure our long-term future at a place we want to live and work. I just don't buy that this was a reaction to perceived disrespect from the Seahawks organization.

Ruskell did drop the ball on this, but I have a difficult time imputing him a great deal. It was an unprecedented situation and I think it was more a case of being taken advantage of than an egregious display of incompetence. From what I remember of the fan discourse at the time, I was far from alone in thinking it was a shrewd move with little downside. The thinking was likely that it would speed up contact negotiations so that we wouldn't end up with another franchise-by-year situation like we had with Big Walt.

Exactly!

 

[BlueTalon]

Ok, seems like I have high propensity of posting & killing threads, dead in the dirt, I hope this one follows suit.
Hutch & Jones probably best left side ever, SA37 owes mega stats to them.
Twenty years later SH thumbs up Haynes for the Hawks & a bunch on .net push him towards the shark pen.
It's been covered, it's over. Chill. Or not.
I'd like to hear discussion about our 3rd year OT's & young IOL and how our strong O-weapons could flourish.
This thread belongs in the Seahawks slight thread in how the league has screwed us so many times as a South Alaska after thought.
Whatever, Hutch & his agent got paid, Ruskell dumb azzed it.
Walt was our greatest player ever, it was Steve's loss.
I miss great football, I care about Haynes, not Hutch.

Nice try, but this thread is about Hutch.

 

[hawkfan68]

My opinion - Tim Ruskell was the 2nd worst GM in Seahawk history. The Hutchinson fiasco was a part of it but his pushing the greatest coach the Seahawks had (to that point in time) out and then hiring Jim Mora. The only reason he's not the worst GM is because Tom Flores gets that crown.

Initial thoughts on the Ruskell era

For frustrated Seahawks fans, Tim Ruskell's departure as general manager might qualify as the best thing to happen to the franchise since, well, since the team hired Ruskell in the first place.

www.espn.com

 

[Rat]

My opinion - Tim Ruskell was the 2nd worst GM in Seahawk history. The Hutchinson fiasco was a part of it but his pushing the greatest coach the Seahawks had (to that point in time) out and then hiring Jim Mora. The only reason he's not the worst GM is because Tom Flores gets that crown.

Initial thoughts on the Ruskell era

For frustrated Seahawks fans, Tim Ruskell's departure as general manager might qualify as the best thing to happen to the franchise since, well, since the team hired Ruskell in the first place.

www.espn.com

Ruskell was pretty good for what we needed at the time. He inherited a good team that had an overworked GM that was struggling to get the franchise over the hump, and Ruskell immediately acquired a number of quality players who bought into the system, and that yielded dividends early. Unfortunately, his philosophy was too narrow and eventually his team of scrappy overachievers became regularly overmatched. Ironically, I'll bet the one person who would have been a bigger Russell Wilson fan than Schneider would have been Tim Ruskell. That guy epitomized "Ruskell pick". Trading for Deion Branch was probably the least surprising thing he did.

It drove me crazy that Ruskell wouldn't even consider small-school guys are high-upside players who underachieved in college for whatever reason. In his entire tenure the only time he drafted a small-school prospect was the sixth-round long-snapper he took out of San Diego State who never even made the team. I think Ruskell would have liked Earl Thomas and KJ Wright, but we never would have had guys like Bobby Wagner, DK Metcalf, or Richard Sherman under him.

 

[renofox]

How naive can people be? If you truly believe that Ruskell came up with using the transition tag without Hutch's agent requesting it, I have a Nigerian prince that you can help out.

If you believe that Hutch's agent requested it without Hutch's approval, I have another Nigerian prince you can help out.

If you believe that the Vikings came up with the provision that Hutchinson would have to be the highest paid lineman with a provision so that the Seahawks could not revise the terms of Walter Jones' contract to make a contract work with Hutchinson without his agent assisting in the terms to get Hutchinson out of Seattle, I have yet another Nigerian prince that you can help.

Hutchinson did not want to continue playing for the Seahawks. His agent played Ruskell like a fiddle and then played the PR game to keep Hutchinson from being hated. Apparently PT Barnum was right judging by these posts.

^^^Truth. This is what actually happened.

 

[Count Hawkula]

Is a consultant for the Seahawks now and was in the war room for the draft? I'm sorry, but f**k him. There's a short list of former players that I have absolutely zero use for and Hutch is one of them. Yes, he was probably the best OG in NFL history, but I'm still not over the "poison pill" bullsh*t and how complicit he was in making it happen. I don't care how good of a job he does as a talent scout now, he's persona non grata as far as I'm concerned.

‘A really good f—king player’ - Steve Hutchinson reacts to Seahawks taking Christian Haynes

The Seahawks had an exciting night, and it was even more exciting behind the scenes.

www.fieldgulls.com

He is in the same category as the Steelers. I don't even consider him a former Seahawks player.

 

[pittpnthrs]

People hate Hutch because they crave team loyalty. Team loyalty went out the window with the salary cap. It's a business. How can anybody blame any player for trying to better himself salary wise?

 

[AROS]

I too despised him and the Vikings during the Poison Pill situation, but I have long forgave his part in it. To me, his heart is with the Seahawks and therefore he's part of the Seahawk family again.

But I will NEVER like that dirtbag Ruskell. If anyone is to blame it is him.

 

[chris98251]

Ruskell wanted his own legacy, purposely undermined Holmgren several times even before the Hutch situation, Holmgren and him never got along from what I have read and remember. The Hutch thing was a stab at Holmgren and to try to get him to leave or fire him. Ruskell knew how key Hutch was, I would bet that even if his role and Hutch were reversed in their contract signings Ruskell would have did the same thing with Jones to get at Holmgren.

 

[LeveeBreak]

Ruskell wanted his own legacy, purposely undermined Holmgren several times even before the Hutch situation, Holmgren and him never got along from what I have read and remember. The Hutch thing was a stab at Holmgren and to try to get him to leave or fire him. Ruskell knew how key Hutch was, I would bet that even if his role and Hutch were reversed in their contract signings Ruskell would have did the same thing with Jones to get at Holmgren.

Someone is going to offer you a Nigerian prince. Don’t fall for it.

 

[BlueTalon]

People hate Hutch because they crave team loyalty. Team loyalty went out the window with the salary cap. It's a business. How can anybody blame any player for trying to better himself salary wise?

Nobody begrudged Hutch the opportunity to better himself salary wise. What we hate(d) him for was the mechanism by which two teams wanted to offer him the same 7 year $49M dollar deal, but he only allowed one of those teams to actually offer him that deal. The other team was given additional roadblocks.

It wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime money offer, it was a twice-in-one-week money offer.

 

[BlueTalon]

I too despised him and the Vikings during the Poison Pill situation, but I have long forgave his part in it. To me, his heart is with the Seahawks and therefore he's part of the Seahawk family again.

But I will NEVER like that dirtbag Ruskell. If anyone is to blame it is him.

If you're assigning blame for that fiasco, Ruskell is about 4th on the list behind Hutch, Hutch's agent, and the Vikings GM.

There are other, better reasons for hating Ruskell IMO.

 

[LeveeBreak]

If you're assigning blame for that fiasco, Ruskell is about 4th on the list behind Hutch, Hutch's agent, and the Vikings GM.

There are 2 lines of thinking on reason…1) Hutch felt dissed 2) Hutch was the mastermind with help from his agent (and your an dumbass to think otherwise).

However…I’ve read more reports of the former. What support is there for the latter? Curious minds would like to know.

 

[BlueTalon]

There are 2 lines of thinking on reason…1) Hutch felt dissed 2) Hutch was the mastermind with help from his agent (and your an dumbass to think otherwise).

However…I’ve read more reports of the former. What support is there for the latter? Curious minds would like to know.

The record of Hutch's lies, the poison pill clause, and the decision by the Special Master. That asymmetric language didn't just show up, it had to be crafted. Hutch originally claimed he didn't know about it. Some days later, he admitted to knowing about it. When the Special Master made his ruling, he ruled that the poison pill language was valid and operable because Hutch had asked for it to be there. That puts Hutch squarely in the planning phase of that contract offer.

And remember, all of this was happening quite fast. There was a grand total of about a week between when Hutch first told Seattle media he didn't know about the poison pill and the Special Master's ruling.

The other interpretation, the one that says Hutch felt dissed because he got the transition tag instead of the franchise tag, is based on the assumption that a player wants to be franchise tagged because of the money involved. Clearly, the vast majority of players getting the franchise tag do not feel that way about it. And people who think Ruskell put the transition tag on Hutch instead of the franchise tag because of the money don't really understand the point of the transition tag. The transition tag functioned in Hutch's case exactly as it was designed. Nobody could have envisioned it would be abused in the way Hutch, his agent, and the Vikings abused it, because nothing like it had ever been done before. Without that abuse, the Vikings would have shot their best shot at a contract trying to pry Hutch from the Seahawks, Hutch would have received a matching offer from the Seahawks, and he would have played 2006 next to Walter Jones.