KIRKLAND – When Rocky Bernard was a wide-eyed rookie, just a young fifth-round draft pick trying like heck to make the Seattle Seahawks’ roster, one of his first assignments was to line up across from a second-year player with an impressive build.
Left guard Steve Hutchinson, with his 313-pound frame and massive shoulders, got the better of Bernard for most of minicamp.
And Bernard didn’t forget.
“That son of a (gun) was strong,” the defensive tackle and five-year veteran said of his former teammate. “He’s the strongest guard I’ve ever faced.”
Bernard has since changed from the three-technique position at right defensive tackle to the nose spot on the left side. So, he probably won’t see much of Hutchinson, now a starting left guard with Minnesota, in Sunday’s game at Qwest Field.
But he knows what fellow defensive tackles Marcus Tubbs and Chartric Darby face when the Seahawks host Hutchinson’s Vikings.
“Those guys will have their hands full all Sunday,” Bernard said.
Hutchinson makes his return to Seattle this weekend, and both Seahawks fans and players will be ready. In between the A-Rod-like boos and heckles that come with big-money departures, the Pro Bowl guard will be doing what he does best, which is pushing defensive players around.
Like Bernard, Tubbs has faced Hutchinson many times in the past. Through minicamps, training camps and season-long practice sessions, Tubbs might have lined up across from Hutchinson more than any other lineman in the NFL.
“It feels good to have practiced against him and seen him every day,” Tubbs said. “But at the same time, he doesn’t give you the same thing every time. It’ll be a battle.”
Tubbs knows there will be some heated competition, but he doesn’t expect the matchup to boil over into animosity.
“He’s going to bring his A-game, and I’ll bring mine, trying to bust his butt,” said Tubbs, who recently replaced Darby as the starter. “But at the same time, I’m not going to be out there trying to hurt anybody. If he goes down, I’ll pick him up off the ground.”
While the fans might give Hutchinson an earful on Sunday, his teammates aren’t harboring any animosity.
Center Robbie Tobeck said he’s looking forward to exchanging pleasantries with Hutchinson before Sunday’s game.
“I miss him a lot,” Tobeck said. “He’s one of the best friends I’ve made since I’ve been in the league.”
Hutchinson signed a controversial, $52 million contract with the Vikings in March and was later quoted as saying: “I could never understand what (Seahawks) management was thinking” by not re-signing him before the start of free agency. Many fans were hurt by the departure, but Hutchinson’s former teammates looked at it as a simple business decision.
“I was extremely excited for him,” Tobeck said. “Despite what anybody says, you wouldn’t play this game for 30-grand a year. That’s one of the reasons I have arthritis in my elbow and bone-on-bone in my knee, because you do it for a big payday.
“… But I was extremely happy for him. I told him, ‘I’m going to miss you, but good for you.’”
Hutchinson is not talking about his departure to reporters this week. He’s so fed up with the subject that Vikings teammate Matt Birk jokingly referred to Hutchinson as “Mr. Friendly” during Wednesday’s conference call with local reporters.
“He’s a beauty,” said Birk, a center who has been to four Pro Bowls, one more than Hutchinson, during his nine-year NFL career. “I think he’s as good as there is at the position. Right away, when you add a guy with that talent to your unit, it only helps you out and brings everybody’s level of play up.”
Seattle’s defensive tackles know they’ll have to raise their level of play, too.
Tubbs thinks he has an idea of what to expect out of Hutchinson, and he doesn’t need teammates like Bernard to remind him.
“He’s very strong,” Tubbs said. “I knew when I got (to the NFL) that everybody was strong, but I liked to put myself up there with them. But he’s really strong.”
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