KIRKLAND – While the P-word – potential – might be the only thing keeping this year’s offensive line from being one of the Seattle Seahawks’ best ever, it’s the F-word that had stood in the way until Monday.
Franchise. As in franchise player. As in Walter Jones.
The Pro Bowl left tackle joined his teammates Monday in what is becoming as predictable an annual routine as another J-Lo engagement.
Jones signed a one-year contract tender that will pay him $7.084 million this season, then he took part in his first practice of 2004. The Seahawks play the New Orleans Saints in the regular season opener Sunday.
“The season has started, and that (contract) stuff is behind me now,” Jones said after working with the No. 1 offense at Monday’s morning practice. “Whatever happened was going to happen, and right now I’m here to help this team win.”
Jones skipped a third consecutive training camp as his ongoing protest toward not having a long-term deal. The sides haven’t been close in contract terms since Jones became a free agent in March 2002.
“I want to get signed,” Jones said Monday. “I want to be locked (up), so I can go finish my career. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t … ”
Coach Mike Holmgren was glad to have Jones back, but he was cautious about expecting the 30-year-old linemen to step in and play at a Pro Bowl level.
“I don’t think people should take that for granted,” Holmgren said. “And players certainly shouldn’t take that for granted. And agents shouldn’t take that for granted.
“He’s an exceptional player; there is no question about that. He’s one of the best I’ve seen. But does every player need a little work to be at his best prior to the first part of the season? I think they do.”
Jones is expected to play this weekend, giving the Seahawks all five pieces of what could be the best line in team history. Not coincidentally, this Sunday could mark the first time in franchise history that the Seahawks have opened a regular season with the same five starters who played in the previous year’s finale.
That’s 28 years, folks.
“That’s the nature of the league. Nowadays, there are going to be changes every year,” center Robbie Tobeck said. “For us, fortunately, it’s mostly been changes with the backups. And even our backups have been here for a while now. It’s nice to play with the same guys.”
Jones, left guard Steve Hutchinson, Tobeck, right guard Chris Gray and right tackle Chris Terry started 10 games together last season, including the regular-season finale in San Francisco (although Gray tore a knee ligament in that game and did not suit up for the playoff loss at Green Bay).
Jones and Hutchinson went to the Pro Bowl last season, while Tobeck may have had his best season as a pro. And Terry, in the words of current teammate and former NFC West rival Grant Wistrom, “is probably the most underrated offensive tackle in football.”
Tobeck, who is entering his 11th NFL season, makes no bones about how good this Seahawks unit can be.
“We have the potential to be the best line I’ve ever played on,” Tobeck said. “I think we can be one of the best lines in the league. We just have to go out and play our game.”
There’s that P-word again. Seattle still has to turn potential into reality up front.
“It takes work,” Terry said. “No matter how many guys you’ve got coming back, you’ve got to work at it every day.
“… Offensive line is 80 percent mental and 20 percent physical. When you’ve got guys who are used to working together and know what the guys are going to do next to them, you’ll always be better.”
Said Hutchinson: “We’ve got another year of playing together, another year of experience. We had a pretty good year as an offense last year, but of course we can improve. I look at the amount of sacks we gave up last year (43). That’s something we definitely want to improve on.”
If the offensive linemen can stay healthy for all 16 games, this unit believes it can improve on 2003. Getting Jones in the fold was the first step in that direction.
“It’s always nice to have him back,” Hutchinson said. “He’s kind of got this routine going, where he misses the first month of camp. It’s been three years, but he comes in and does well that first week of the season.”
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