The Frinklin and Fred Show

It is apparently unwise to piss off Ted Ruskell

A week after losing Pro Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson to the Minnesota Vikings due to “poison pill” stipulations in his Viking offer sheet, the Seahawk GM is getting a little payback. The Seahawks have signed WR Nate Burleson to a 7-year $49 million dollar offer, which is roughly the same as what Minnesota gave Hutch. You’ll remember that the Seahawks could have and almost certainly would have matched the deal were it not for the stipulation that stated that the entire contract amount was guaranteed if Hutchinson wasn’t the highest paid offensive lineman on the team. While the Seahawks were able to rework Walter Jones’ contract to allow Hutchinson that honor, an arbiter ruled that per the contract, Hutchinson had to be the highest paid offensive lineman on the day the contract was signed. Since this was technically impossible for the Seahawks they let him go.

Today, according to ESPN’s Len Pasquarelli, the Hawks signed Burleson, the young and gifted wideout from Nevada, to a deal with some… ummm, interesting stipulations. According to the contract language, the contract becomes fully guaranteed if Burleson were to be active for 5 games played in the state of Minnesota in any single season. Since the Vikings are based in Minneapolis, that would be pretty easy to meet. The other stipulation states –and this one is so bizarre it’s difficult to think it was for anything other than screwing with the Vikes- that Burleson’s contract is fully guaranteed if he isn’t paid, on average per year, more than all of the team’s running backs combined.

The Seahawks don’t have nearly enough rivalries. This could be fun down the road.