Holmgren, Hasselbeck went to bat for Robinson

Published 3:58 pm Tuesday, September 16, 2008

If Mike Holmgren is looking for a post-football career, he might do worse than getting into law.

Same for Matt Hasselbeck.

The Seattle Seahawks coach and quarterback put their skills of persuasion to work this week, convincing team president Tim Ruskell to sign wide receiver Koren Robinson.

Ruskell said during a Tuesday conference call that he had to be swayed to make the move, which the Seahawks officially completed earlier that day.

“I was initially against the idea,” said Ruskell, who has a long-standing philosophy against taking players with questionable backgrounds. “But once we started doing our research, it verified the move.”

Ruskell said that director of pro personnel Will L ewis visited Robinson in North Carolina and that director of player development Maurice Kelly, a former teammate of Robinson’s, also had a conversation with the 28-year-old receiver.

But the most convincing arguments were made by Holmgren and Hasselbeck, Ruskell said.

“My whole thing is we can’t have knuckleheads around here,” Rusekll said Tuesday. “We got rid of some players, and I thought that was the end of it. But we got in this crisis (with several injured receivers), and we had to do something. We did our research.”

Robinson, who has twice been suspended because of alcohol-related arrests, was signed Tuesday to help shore up Seattle’s injury-plagued receiving corps. The receiver is making his second stint with the team, which drafted him in 2001.

Robinson said Tuesday that he has been sober since Aug. 2006, adding that he is a changed man.

“Looking back, I am totally different and stronger for it,” he said Tuesday.