Red Dawn

The Seahawks didn't get Peyton Manning, and it looks like they won't get Mario Williams either. The good news? We aint the fuckin' Redskins, and our front office knows how to manage the cap and the roster. They know that the team that makes the biggest "splash" as free agency opens often sinks to the bottom of the god damn pool once the games are actually played. Our front office has priced out what they'll spend on each player and they've been INCREDIBLY disciplined in sticking to those numbers.

Red Bryant is a great example of this phenomenon. Many Twelves BEGGED the team to franchise Bryant, but they had a specific notion of what he was worth ($35 million over five years with $14.5 million in guarantees)- They let him go out and test the market, and Big Red came back and took Seattle's extremely fair market-value offer. Our front office did the same thing with Brandon Mebane and Marshawn Lynch, and so far they've been very successful at keeping their own free agents in Seattle. Now the Seahawks will keep the anchor of their elite rushing defense (who is also a kick-blocking machine on special teams), while keeping plenty of cap room to keep improving our pass rush.

What will happen now? Plenty of fans and jabbering talk-radio windbags are already bemoaning the Seahawks' "failure" in this free agency period, but their myopia is as predictable as it is misguided. We've seen this story before: The vast majority of fans and media types DESTROY Carroll's roster moves, but once the games actually get played, the team gets better every season. After one day of free agency, the Seahawks have retained their single most important UFA, and are in a great position to make additional moves. The fact that Buffalo wants to overpay for Mario Williams or Cleveland wants to overpay Matt Flynn SHOULDN'T change Seattle's strategy, and it won't.

It might not be viscerally satisfying TODAY, but I promise you we'll be smiling on most Sundays this fall. Have faith and know hope, Twelves.