Seahawks’ Winslow glad to be playing for Seattle

RENTON — Kellen Winslow traveled a lot of unnecessarily miles in last few days, only to learn he wasn’t part of a team’s future.

But the Seahawks’ new tight end insists he holds no grudges against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who traded him to Seattle Monday, and that he is happy for any opportunity that comes his way.

Winslow missed Tampa’s first voluntary workouts last week while working out in San Diego, then flew to Tampa Bay Saturday for this week’s workouts. After arriving, he got a call telling him not to come to the team’s workouts, which began Monday, and that new head coach Greg Schiano planned to trade him. By Monday, Winslow was traded to the Seahawks for a conditional 2013 draft pick, which meant another cross-country flight to join his new team.

“That’s how the NFL is,” he said. “It worked out for both sides. I’m going to miss my teammates out there, my boys. I’ve grown together a lot with those guys, but it’s the NFL. It’s hard. It’s good to have a job, you know. It’s good to have a job, so I’ll be OK.”

And now that Winslow, a former first-round pick, is in Seattle, he is ready to make the most out of a fresh start. The 28-year-old has been very productive throughout his career when healthy, but there has long been concern over his knee since he missed the 2005 season because of a motorcycle accident. That has limited Winslow’s ability to practice throughout his career, but he still played at a Pro-Bowl level in 2007 with Cleveland, and he played 16 games in each of his three seasons in Tampa Bay, catching an average of 73 passes each season.

“I will have to manage my practice time but ever since the accident, I do have to live with what I have,” he said. “But I’ve been playing the last three years 16 games and the last five out of six years, I’ve been five years healthy. So I’ll be okay. Just be smart with it and I’ll be there on Sunday.”

Both Winslow and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll say Winslow’s versatility as a pass catcher will make him a good fit with Zach Miller, who Seattle signed prior to last season. While Miller is a more traditional tight end, a good blocker and pass catcher who typically lines up next to a tackle, Winslow is more of an oversized receiver who can move around in different formations.

“I’ll be good,” Winslow said of the pairing. “Zach Miller is a proven veteran here. Hopefully we’ll be able to do something like the Patriots are doing with (Rob) Gronkowski and (Aaron) Hernandez. We kind of fit that mold, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

Carroll, who described Winslow as a receiver in a tight end’s body, said it was important to add another tight end after John Carlson left in free agency, and that the Seahawks were thrilled when Winslow became available.

“Kellen is a unique football player,” Carroll said. “He’s got special talents. He’s got a tremendous record of consistency with his play and his catches and his yards and I think we add a guy that we know can make things happen. He’s got some health issues that we’re going to deal with to make sure that we monitor him really well, so that he can play his best. … It’s just a fantastic addition because he can make things happen, he can make plays, should be a big factor on third down and the red zone and we’ll see how we fit him in. It’s going to take us awhile to do that, but we’re really fired up.”

3-way QB battle underway

After third-round pick Russell Wilson impressed his new team during a rookie minicamp earlier this month, Carroll announced that Wilson would be part of the quarterback competition with Tarvaris Jackson and Matt Flynn. During the team’s first session of organized team activities, it was clear that Carroll was serious about giving the rookie a chance to in that battle.

On Thursday, all three took reps with the first team, with Wilson getting a bit more work. During Tuesday and Wednesday’s workouts, which weren’t open to the media, Carroll said Jackson and Flynn got more work.

Carroll said there is no timetable for declaring a winner in the competition, but that he is encouraged by what he has seen from all three in the early going.

“They’re all making progress,” he said. “They’re just making progress and doing good things. T-Jack and Matt had a big day yesterday and it’s going to go a little bit like that as we go through it. We’ll just accumulate a lot of information and figure it out somewhere down the road. I’m really thrilled about the way they’re battling. It’s good.”

Notable

Among those missing Thursday’s voluntary workout were defensive end Bruce Irving, who was back in West Virginia for the funeral of former Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart; receiver Golden Tate, who suffered a hand injury Wednesday and is in a cast, according to Carroll (no further information was given on the injury); and defensive end Chris Clemons, whose absence was not explained by Carroll, who only said, “Chris is not here.” … Tackle James Carpenter, who is coming back from a torn ACL that ended his rookie season, ran on Thursday for the first time since suffering the injury last November.

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com