By Scott M. Johnson
Herald Writer
A new stadium, a new conference, a new logo. And now a new starting quarterback.
Well, not exactly new. But the Seattle Seahawks reversed field late Friday night and were able to lure Trent Dilfer back to town by making him their starting quarterback.
Dilfer agreed to a four-year contract with Seattle on the accord that he will go into training camp as the starter. Matt Hasselbeck, for whom coach Mike Holmgren traded one year ago with the intention of making him the Seahawks’ quarterback of the future, will be relegated to backup duty.
Dilfer’s contract – which won’t be officially signed until sometime this week – could be worth up to $18 million if he meets certain incentives. The base salaries over the four years will pay him at least $8 million, including a $4 million signing bonus.
He will make a minimum of $750,000 over each of the first two seasons and $1.25 million in 2004 and 2005. If the Seahawks win 10 games in his first year, and Dilfer’s quarterback rating is 85.0 or higher, he will earn $3.5 million, $4.5 million and $5.25 million over the final three years.
“I’m obviously very excited,” Dilfer said Saturday afternoon. “When you go into the free-agent market, you spend a lot of time evaluating things. As I went through the process, Seattle was the place I wanted to be. It’s very exciting.”
For Dilfer, the signing came after a roller coaster Friday afternoon. First, he and his agent had secured an interview with the Cincinnati Bengals, scheduled to take place next week. Shortly after that, the Baltimore Ravens released Elvis Grbac, a player the Bengals had pursued last offseason and will likely try to land again. Later in the evening, the Chicago Bears re-signed quarterback Jim Miller, thereby closing the door on another possible opportunity.
But all of that became moot when Dilfer and the Seahawks struck a deal in the late hours of the evening.
“It was the first time all of the pieces came together,” said Mike Sullivan, Dilfer’s agent.
The decision to make Dilfer the starter goes against everything Holmgren did and said during the 2001 season. Although Dilfer went 4-0 as a starter for the Seahawks, Holmgren continually declared that Hasselbeck was the team’s quarterback of the present and future. But he changed his stance after taking time to evaluate the position in the offseason.
“Trent earned the right to try and get this thing done,” Holmgren told the Tacoma New Tribune while at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis on Saturday. “The consistency at the quarterback position hasn’t been what we’ve wanted the last three years, and even at that we were able to win nine games a couple of those years. Trent played well enough in relief of Matt to earn the starting job going into 2002.”
Although the Bengals were the only team that had an interview scheduled, Dilfer said there had been a lot of interest from other teams during the first two days of free agency.
“There were a lot of opportunities,” Dilfer said. “The opportunities were plenty, ones that were attractive. But none of them to me matched the opportunity in Seattle, and that’s to win the prize, to win the Super Bowl. That’s how I measure things in football.”
Dilfer had to exercise much greater patience last offseason, when he was essentially overlooked by every team before signing a one-year, $1 million contract with the Seahawks in August. He accepted that deal knowing he would be Hasselbeck’s backup, but still saw playing time in nine games due to a variety of injuries to the anointed starter.
In his limited playing time, Dilfer outplayed Hasselbeck last season. He threw 199 fewer passes than Hasselbeck, but had as many touchdown passes (seven) and a much better quarterback rating (92.0 to 70.9).
The importance of Dilfer’s re-signing was reflected by an internet poll on the Seahawks’ website. Asked whether they would be more likely to purchase season tickets now that Dilfer was in the fold, 88 percent of the nearly 1,500 respondents replied in the affirmative as of late Saturday afternoon.
Dilfer turns 30 in 10 days, yet he is just starting to find some stability in the NFL. He spent the first six years of his career in Tampa Bay, then was dumped by the Ravens after winning a Super Bowl in his only season with Baltimore.
He said he is considering moving his family to Seattle, and is excited about the opportunity to set his anchor down someplace where he feels wanted.
“I feel young right now,” Dilfer said. “I feel like the best years of my life are ahead of me. I’d like to play forever.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
