Brian Russell

Published 12:00 am Thursday, September 6, 2007

On their way to overhauling a secondary that got burnt by too many long pass plays, the Seattle Seahawks hit the free-agent market with an open wallet. No matter the cost, they were going to fix their defense’s most visible need.

What $30 million bought them was a veteran safety named Deon Grant who seems to fit the bill. And, oh, by the way: at about one-third that price, the Seahawks landed another starter who prizes himself on not letting things go over his head.

“Any safety, if you’re giving up too many big plays, it’s a problem,” former Minnesota Vikings and Cleveland Browns safety Brian Russell said during training camp. “I don’t know if that’s something I lose sleep over, or if it’s the only part of my game that I focus on, but it’s one of the things that I work on.

“I’m trying to be a complete safety.”

While former starters Michael Boulware and Ken Hamlin found themselves on far too many highlight reels over the past three seasons, Russell has gotten about as much face time on Sports Center as a Zamboni driver.

Maybe that’s why the 29-year-old Russell entered free agency last spring without much fanfare.

“I’m glad he did,” Seahawks defensive coordinator John Marshall said. “I’m glad he’s here with us. I have no idea. Maybe the other guys screwed up.”

At a comparatively low price of $13.5 million over five years, including a remarkably low first-year base salary of $600,000, Russell quietly joined the Seahawks in March and quickly emerged as one of the defense’s leaders. By the end of the first minicamp, he had earned a starting job alongside Grant.

Through his relaxed style of communication, as well as his obsession to cut down on big plays, Russell won over the Seahawks from the get-go.

“Because of the intelligence, the football awareness, making calls,” Marshall explained of why the Seahawks targeted Russell in free agency. “Back in Cleveland, they had a very young secondary. And he was in charge of making sure guys were in the right spot doing the right thing. That weighed very heavy.

“Plus, he’s a good football player.”

Being a good football player isn’t always enough in the NFL, especially when a player is a member of non-playoff teams. Despite a nine-interception season while with the Minnesota Vikings in 2003, Russell has gone largely unnoticed during his first six NFL seasons.

“When your team’s not playing well, those guys aren’t talked about,” Seahawks team president Tim Ruskell said. “They don’t get on TV, they aren’t in the fantasy football and all that stuff, so that happens.

“… Although if you went to that team, and those players, Brian was a very integral part of that defense. They miss having the quarterback back there. And that was what attracted us to him.”

Russell immediately established himself as a voice of the defense.

“He’s a communicator,” Marshall said. “He knows how incredibly important that is. You have to have one of them.

“When we had Marquand (Manuel), Marquand was a communicator. All of a sudden he isn’t here, and we aren’t communicating. Once you have one outstanding communicator, it’s infectious.”

In Russell, the Seahawks believe they’ve found that communicator.

And if communication is the biggest key to pass defense, maybe there won’t be so many highlights of Seattle’s defensive backs chasing people toward the end zone.