KIRKLAND – Shaun Alexander’s final public comments of the 2005 season were a bit reminiscent of his running style. At one moment, he looked as if he might stay on the same path; at the next, he looked ready to run toward greener pastures.
During a 15-minute session with local reporters inside the Seattle Seahawks locker room on Tuesday afternoon, the Pro Bowl running back and league MVP said his preference was to stay with the Seahawks but that money would also factor into his decision.
“If you’re trying to get a deal, then somebody has to sacrifice something,” he said. “I don’t think we’re in a situation where we don’t have to be fair. We definitely can do everything correctly where everybody wins.”
Alexander admitted Tuesday that the thought occurred to him after Monday afternoon’s celebration rally that he may have run through the Qwest Field tunnel for the final time, but he also expressed optimism that he will be back in Seattle.
He said he’s open to re-signing with the Seahawks before March 3, when he could become a free agent and start fielding offers from other teams.
“Fair is fair,” Alexander said. “Other teams do not decide what fair is. I think the Seahawks definitely know, and we know. It just is what it is.”
He got no more specific than that, other than to respond to a question about his asking price by joking: “Six-hundred billion. Nah. Five hundred fifty-nine billion.”
When asked about the $18 million signing bonuses the team gave to Pro Bowl left tackle Walter Jones and quarterback Matt Hasselbeck last February, Alexander refused to make comparisons to his own situation because of the positions they play. When asked whether he expected to be given more than the six-year, $60 million contract San Diego’s LaDainian Tomlinson got as the NFL’s highest-paid running back, Alexander showed some of the elusiveness that has made him one of the league’s best runners.
“I haven’t really thought about that,” he said. “When you say high, do you mean as in signing bonus? Do you mean two years? Four years? Seven years? There are so many different things. In different categories, the answer could be yes. In other categories, the answer could be no.”
What Alexander does not expect is to be paid like, in his words, “an average running back.” He also expects to make more annually than the $6.323 million his 2005 contract tender paid him.
“The touchdown record, the years in a row with 1,000 yards,” he said. “No one’s ever done that before. So it kind of sets the stage for its own (deal).”
The market for running backs has drastically changed over the past two years, starting with the eight-year, $50.5 million deal Clinton Portis signed after being dealt to the Washington Redskins in March 2004. Tomlinson trumped that deal five months later with a reported signing bonus of $21 million.
Further complicating matters is the unsettled labor situation between the league and the NFL Players Association. The current collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2007 season, meaning any long-term deals could be affected by the possibility of a future lockout. The labor negotiations could alter how signing bonuses are applied to the salary cap and how willing a team will be to sign a player beyond 2007.
“I don’t get into all that,” Alexander said. “My situation is just my situation. I think the Seahawks are going to do a really, really good job, and my agents are going to do a really, really good job, and about 23 days from now, we’re all going to be really happy.”
The optimistic running back, who departed for Hawaii later in the afternoon to attend his second consecutive Pro Bowl, said he expected serious negotiations to begin between the team and his agents this morning. Both sides put off talks a couple months ago, opting to wait until the end of the 2005 season to get serious about working out a deal.
“I don’t mind it being what it is,” Alexander said. “You can’t be in denial about it. We have 23 days for the Seahawks to make the decision.
“We all think it’s going to work out great, and then we’ll start getting ready for 16 days and a trip to Miami (for Super Bowl XLI). It’s just reality. It’s not like it’s something heavy on my mind. It is what it is.”
Alexander wasn’t just posturing for his own deal Tuesday. He also talked about the importance of re-signing some other impending free agents – namely, Pro Bowl fullback Mack Strong and Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson, a top candidate for the team’s franchise tag.
“I just think that if we’re really talking about going back to a Super Bowl, it’s really important,” Alexander said. “We know that with those three guys, it gives us a really good shot to do it again.”
When the Seahawks do begin their defense of the NFC championship, Alexander would like to be a part of it. But there are no guarantees he will be.
“I want to be here, and they want me here,” he said. “We have the means to make it happen. We have the means for all of us to be happy. I would be surprised if we don’t have a similar team next year, if we don’t come back and do it again – and this time win – in Miami.”
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