Raymond Luxury Yacht;242931 said:
I don't think they paid him only because of that season, but I think it influenced them to give him the kind if money that would indicate they expected him to consistently have seasons like that. That, imo, is foolishly optimistic. Always be wary of a player who has a career year the year they come up for contract renewal/free agency. There have been way too many cases of it being someone who was inspired by the dollars, then slip into apathy once they get the payday.
He has skills. Or had, I think they've faded. The biggest problem as I see it is he doesn't seem to care. He runs like a guy who has already been paid. The announcers in that game were talking about how much heart he was showing and how well he was running because he spun out of one tackle. Makes you wonder how much heart someone shows normally if they get congratulated on bothering themselves to break one tackle enroute to a 20 yard performance.
So, your numbers, combined with his numbers from his most recent, weaker efforts, tend to back me up. He WAS good, especially when the money was on the line and he was young. Now, he's already been paid, he's a little old for an average back, doesn't run hard, and I don't think you can consider him good in the pesent tense. Which means, as I was saying, regardless of what he once was, he is NOW soft, fragile, and overpaid, and is not worth the money.
/not a seahawk fan, a basic football fan with no home team
I think this was predictable and it's going to hurt the Seahawks. They need to trade him to a desperate team for as high a pick as they can get and draft someone who really wants to play and can play. Really, who would you really want, Alexander or Mcfadden?
~Luxury Yacht, always enjoys arguing with C-Hawk fans
the question is do you lock up that proven aging veteran to make a shot at the finals? hasselbeck is old, alexander is old, the o-line is aging(terry is 33 now), trufants contract is coming up(one of the best young corners in the league), holmgren close to retirement, etc. the heat did it with Shaq and won a championship, the seahawks as they were this year and the last few were superbowl contenders in the nfc. they invested for the window of time they believe they had, and sometimes you have to overpay for that in a town that isnt a traditional nfl town and doesnt necessarily draw the free agents like the more traditional football towns.
i dont disagree with the decision. if they were the vikings, packers, falcons, raiders, etc prior to this year, i wouldnt have agreed because those are teams that had no need for a veteran back with a few years left. teams like the seahawks, cardinals(who did the same for edge), broncos, giants, etc need that veteran back to provide 2 or 3 years worth of decent performance to get over the hump.
basically, hindsight is 20/20, but the investment on the projection of 2 or 3 more above league average years in order to contend for championships on an aging offensive team is a valid one. otherwise, they wont be a true contender for 3-4 years while they rebuild their offense from the ground up.