Many Seahawks’ futures in limbo

RENTON — For any NFL team, nine wins over the course of two seasons would be a recipe for change and uncertainty.

Factor in a couple more unusual circumstances, and several Seahawks head into this offseason not knowing what the future holds.

Following Sunday’s season-ending loss to Tennessee, Seahawks players were back at the team’s Renton headquarters for a meeting with coach Jim Mora and then to clean out their lockers before scattering for the offseason. And a lot of those players Monday walked out of the building unsure if they’d be back.

Not only are the Seahawks coming off a 5-11 season, but they are also currently without a general manager to make decisions on players’ futures. Also, under the current collective bargaining agreement the league could very well be headed towards an uncapped year, making uncertainty the word of the day for a lot of players.

“Anytime you lose, things get shaken up a little bit,” receiver Nate Burleson said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be big changes, but the complexion of the team might change. There might be guys gone, guys brought in. But for me, regardless of who comes in and what they want to do for this team, at the end of the day, we’re just going to have to go play football.”

Burleson will be a free agent, but said he hopes to be back next season.

“I’m not uncertain about it at all,” he said. “There have been talks, which is good. That happened early in the season. So right now, I’m 28 and I’m anticipating that this will be the last jersey I put on. So we’ll see what happens.”

Burleson and a lot of his teammates said they don’t want to see major changes take place, but they also know that could be the reality given the team’s recent struggles and the unknown of who will be making decisions.

“Obviously there is going to be some change,” guard Rob Sims said. “You bring in a new GM, he brings in his people. And we’ve got to make changes and get better ourselves. There will be changes. There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of uncertainty with the CBA and stuff like that.”

Sims is one of several players whose future will be affected by labor negotiations. Owners unanimously voted to opt out of the current CBA in 2008, meaning if a new deal isn’t reached this offseason, 2010 will be an uncapped year that will feature limits on free agency. Many players set to become unrestricted free agents, including Sims, will instead become restricted free agents.

“It’s a rough year to be in a contract year,” Sims said. “I’m kind of in limbo with everything. I don’t have a GM, and then the CBA and I don’t have a deal right now, so it’s kind of rough right now. I’m patient.”

Free agents are certainly not the only players who could be gone. Veterans that are still under contract, especially big ones, could end up being cut, especially if an uncapped year protects teams from taking a cap hit for cutting players under contract. The likes of safety Deon Grant, receiver Deion Branch, running back Julius Jones and defensive end Patrick Kerney all said different variations of the same thing: that they hope to be back but that it’s not up to them.

Some of the veterans on the team remember a similar situation to this year. While there weren’t the labor issues following the 2004 season, the team did have a number of key free agents and no GM in place before Tim Ruskell was hired.

“There has been uncertainty here before,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “I think back to ’04, there were like 20-something unrestricted free agents and no one in place to sign those people. There have been moments like that since I’ve been here, and this is a similar situation in a sense.”

Hasselbeck has one more year on his contract, and the future of the quarterback position will be one of the big decisions the new GM will have to make. Hasselbeck said his offseason won’t change whether or not the Seahawks are thinking about finding his eventual replacement.

“Either way it wouldn’t change anything that I’ve got to do,” he said. “I know what I’ve got to do. I’ve got to rest up a little bit, then get stronger and get back to myself, which I think I can do next year.”

And for whichever players do return, putting two bad seasons in the rearview mirror will be imperative if the team is going to bounce back in 2010.

“Just having two consecutive bad seasons is really going to test our mental toughness,” Hasselbeck said. “Just being a team that can power through that. Block out the negativity, press on towards the goal and no matter what succeed. That’s the mentality that we’ve got to have and I think we can do it. I really do.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog

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