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.
