By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
KIRKLAND – The contract that now features Trent Dilfer’s signature won’t ever be confused with the ones belonging to Alex Rodriguez or Kevin Garnett. By the time the ink dried, Dilfer had signed on with the Seattle Seahawks for four years, with a very real possibility that he will make only $8 million – less money in that span than two other quarterbacks made last season alone.
The deal is not a get-rich-quick scheme by any means. That’s because getting rich isn’t Dilfer’s main incentive.
“My agent (Mike Sullivan) looked at it at first and was like, ‘OK, this is different,’” Dilfer said Tuesday, shortly after officially signing a four-year contract that will pay him a minimum of $8 million. “But as we talked through it and looked at it, it kind of represents the kind of person and player that I want to be.
“Some people say I could have gotten more, but I don’t care,” he added. “I’m very comfortable with this. I’ve got to earn my money in Years 2, 3 and 4. What’s wrong with that? In an era of people wanting everything given to them, I’ve got no problem having to go out and earn this. That’s what we should do in our jobs, is go earn our paychecks.”
Dilfer’s new paychecks won’t be overly extravagant by NFL standards. The base salaries in 2002 and 2003 are $750,000, then go up to $1.25 million the following two years. If he meets certain incentives, he will earn $3.5 million, $4.5 million and $5.25 million, respectively, over the final three years.
The contract could pay him as much as $18 million, including the $4 million signing bonus. By comparison, Elvis Grbac signed a five-year deal worth $30 million with Baltimore last spring, while current teammate Matt Hasselbeck signed a five-year deal in August that could be worth up to $24 million. According to Pro Football Weekly, the top 10 highest-paid quarterbacks in the league have average salaries of $6.28 million – well above the maximum of $4.5 million that Dilfer could potentially earn.
Even to get the $18 million, Dilfer would have to put up some lofty statistics. He would have to take 70 percent of the snaps, have a quarterback rating of at least 85.0, and the Seahawks would have to win at least 10 games next season in order for the contract to escalate.
To put that in perspective, only seven NFL starters had ratings higher than 85.0 last season. Five of them were playoff quarterbacks who were also selected to the Pro Bowl. Dilfer, a part-time starter, was one of the other two.
Even if Dilfer can repeat his 2001 numbers, his salary isn’t guaranteed to go up. His team still needs to win 10 or more games, something the Seahawks have done only twice in their 26-year history.
“I’ve faced it in my career where you want things to be easy, and it was for me earlier in my career,” Dilfer said. ” … I’ve found in my life that the harder something is, the better I perform.”
Obviously, re-signing with the Seahawks wasn’t a matter of money. For Dilfer, who went through free agency last spring without much serious interest, it was a matter of respect.
“I wanted to be wanted,” he said. “When you go through what I’ve been through the last couple years, not being wanted leaves some pretty deep scars.”
From the Seahawks’ side, the decision to re-sign Dilfer wasn’t an easy one. Coach Mike Holmgren, who spoke only briefly Tuesday and did not field any questions, said the decision weighed on him for a month after the season. After consulting with his staff and members of the front office, Holmgren eventually decided to give in to Dilfer’s request to be the team’s starter. Of course, that will mean that Holmgren’s prized quarterback of last March, Matt Hasselbeck, will be relegated to backup duty. (If Hasselbeck doesn’t play another down, his contract would void to three years and $5.1 million.)
“(Dilfer) played with a certain type of consistency that I believe is really necessary for this team to take the next step,” Holmgren said of the 2001 season. “And more than taking anything away from Matt, you have to look at the fact that Trent earned this. He earned the right to do this.”
Dilfer said all along that he wanted the chance to be a starter so that he could approach the season in a different way. He admitted Tuesday that it was very difficult for him to prepare all week for games last season, only to have to sit and watch on Sundays. So he told Holmgren shortly after the 2001 season ended that he would only come back if he was named the starter.
“Clearly, he is a starting quarterback in the NFL, and I think that’s obvious to everybody,” Holmgren said. “To keep him here in Seattle, in fairness, that had to be part of the discussion.”
As of Tuesday, Dilfer is officially the Seahawks’ starting quarterback. How well that pays is still to be determined.
“It’s going to be very hard” to meet the incentives, Dilfer said. “But if I meet them, we’re a success as a franchise. Ultimately, that’s what it’s about. If we don’t meet them, we’re not as successful as we want to be, and I have nobody to blame but myself.
“Nobody puts more pressure on myself than I do. If I meet my expectations, it’s a non-issue. If I don’t meet my expectations, they’ll run me out of town here and off you go. That’s the reality of the situation.”
NOTES: Dilfer’s former teammate in Baltimore, free agent tight end Shannon Sharpe, is expected to visit the Seahawks this week, although a meeting had not been scheduled as of Tuesday afternoon. Seattle’s top two tight ends, Christian Fauria and Itula Mili, are unrestricted free agents, and Holmgren said he will re-sign only one of them. … The Seahawks are also looking for help at defensive end and cornerback, and could make another move or two before the April draft. At that point, they expect to be $5 million under the salary cap. … Free agent offensive lineman Todd Weiner visited with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet with the Atlanta Falcons later this week.
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