Hasselbeck "totally cool" with Whitehurst trade
Published 4:31 pm Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Seahawks made a splash this offseason (or the closest thing they’ve made to a splash anyway) trading for San Diego quarterback Charlie Whitehurst. Pete Carroll, who, in case you hadn’t heard, is all about competition, said Hasselbeck is the team’s quarterback, but that Whitehurst is here to push the veteran.
So is Hasselbeck upset that in the final year of his contract, his team’s new coach and GM hand-picked another quarterback to push him now, and perhaps take his job down the road? Apparently not.
“They kind of just explained, ‘Hey listen, he’s a young guy and we’re going to bring him in. We want to make that room as good as possible,’” Hasselbeck said after Wednesday’s practice. “Pete sort of laid out his general philosophy about football, about how to win, and that’s competing and brining out the best in each guy. Ironically it sounded so similar to Mike Holmgren talk about, ‘Hey, I’m going to push you guys further than you even know you can be pushed. That’s what my goal is. I’m trying to get the absolute best out of you guys.’ And that’s great. No sweat, that’s totally cool. And in terms of competition, it’s always been my feeling that you’re competing, and you competing with the guys on your roster or the guys in your locker room. In the NFL you’re competing against everybody in the world that they can find to do a better job than you to help the team win. I’ve seen that my whole career, and this is no different. So I think it’s a great thing and I welcome the change. I love the philosophy, I’m all in, I love it. Hopefully this is what will get us to turn this program around.”
And besides, even if Whitehurst is here to push Hasselbeck, he’s not really a threat to take his job. At least not based off of what offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates said today. Asked about the team’s new quarterback, Bates praised him, while also making the pecking order seem pretty darn clear.
“The ball’s getting out of his hand fast, he’s got a great arm, he’s athletic, 6-4,” Bates said. “He’s everything we’re looking for in a backup right now.”
As for this first minicamp under Carroll, Hasselbeck said his body feels great and the first two days of practice have gone well. And even though he’s learning a new system for the second straight season, he said the new one is similar to the offense he played in under Mike Holmgren.
“Pretty similar to what we used to do,” Hasselbeck said “…There’s a lot of similarities, we’re able to speak the same language.”
