Matt Flynn and the Nerve of Assassins

There's a great scene in Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven where Gene Hackman explains how he can be an effective gunfighter without having exactly the quickest draw in the West:

"Look son, being a good shot, being quick with a pistol, that don't do no harm, but it don't mean much next to being cool-headed. A man who will keep his head and not get rattled under fire, like as not, he'll kill ya. It ain't so easy to shoot a man anyhow, especially if the son-of-a-bitch is shootin' back at you."

I would have been a terrible gun thug back in the Old West (or today). I'm jittery, easily rattled and prone to panic. I'd also be a terrible NFL GM thanks to these personality flaws. I'd throw money around without thinking through any sort of long-term plan, I'd reach for positions of desperate need in the draft, and I'd mortgage the future by trading draft picks willy-nilly. Basically, I'd be a more-attractive, bearded version of Dan Snyder- If I ran the Seahawks, y'all would be marching on the VMAC with torches and pitchforks within a year.

Pete Carroll and John Schneider both share DNA with Little Bill Daggett. While fans, talk radio and the football press howled at them to make a giant "splash" in free agency, they coolly and methodically executed their plan. So far, that plan has netted:

-A long term deal for Marshawn Lynch before FA began
-The retention of Red Bryant and Michael Robinson
-The acquisition of potentially elite pass rusher Jason Jones
-Today, the signing of our possible franchise quarterback, Matt Flynn

Flynn's deal is three years long, with $10 million guaranteed and a total value between $19 and $26 million. With this kind of contract, let me break down the best and worst-case scenarios:

Worst: Flynn can't win the job in camp, and sees little action behind Tavaris Jackson in 2012. The Seahawks then prepare to draft a QB in the 1st round of the 2013 draft, who will likely sit for a year while Flynn starts in '13. After 2014, QBOF is installed, and Flynn quietly slinks out of town.

Best: Flynn decisively bests T-Jack in camp, has an impressive first campaign, and leads the Seahawks into the playoffs. There is no need to draft the QB of the future. Matt Flynn PROVES he's the QBOF.

Reality will probably fall between these extremes, but this move is overwhelmingly tilted in Seattle's favor: Relatively low risk with potentially spectacular rewards. PCJS stuck to THEIR valuation of Flynn, and didn't spazz out and just start throwing handfuls of cash at him. *COUGH* Cardinals! *COUGH* Kevin Kolb *COUGH* They were patient, calm and let the market settle before stepping up to make their move. As the bullets whizzed around them, they calmly drew, aimed, and HIT THE FUCKING TARGET.

Not only have the Seahawks found a potential answer to their quarterback problem, they've played free agency perfectly: They've filled major needs without fucking up our cap situation, and have the flexibility to take the best players available in the draft without reaching to plug holes in crazed desperation.

It's really nice to root for a team that's NOT run by incompetent boobs, isn't it? Be thankful, Twelves. Our future is in steady hands.

What do you think, sirs?