Wahle signs five-year deal with Seahawks

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3246645

Agent Neil Cornrich declined to specify the value of the deal, but it is believed to be comparable to what other starting guards in the league earn. That would mean approximately $3 million in base salary, plus many more millions in a signing bonus.

Wahle, a 10-year veteran who was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2005 and '06 while with Carolina, earned $18 million in base salary and bonuses in his last three seasons with the Panthers before they cut him Monday in a salary-cap move.

The 6-foot-6, 304-pound Wahle will become the fourth left guard the Seahawks have tried since All-Pro Steve Hutchinson left after the 2005 season in a tricky free-agent deal with Minnesota. Hutchinson's contract included unprecedented "poison pill" contract provisions that the Seahawks vehemently protested but ultimately could not match.

The Seahawks then tried Floyd Womack and Chris Spencer, now their starting center, at left guard. After that failed, the Seahawks thought they had agreed on a contract with free-agent guard Kris Dielman last offseason, but his teammates persuaded him to re-sign with the San Diego Chargers instead. So Seattle rotated inconsistent Rob Sims and the injury-prone Womack at left guard during games throughout the last half of 2007.

The Seahawks' problems in running the ball are getting coach Mike Holmgren's full attention this offseason. Wahle's signing is the first proof.

The New England Patriots and "just about every team in the league who had openings on the offensive line" were interested in Wahle, Cornrich said. But the Seahawks had inherent advantages.

Wahle's father played at suburban Bellevue, Wash., High School and at Oregon State. Wahle's parents have a second home in Bainbridge Island, Wash., across the bay from downtown Seattle. And the family has many relatives in the Northwest.

"The Seahawks definitely had a home-field advantage with Mike," Cornrich said in a telephone interview from Cleveland.

Wahle's rookie season was Holmgren's final season as Green Bay Packers coach before he arrived in Seattle. Holmgren will coach his final season with the Seahawks in 2008.

The Seahawks also hired former Washington Redskins quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor as their quarterbacks coach, to replace Jim Zorn. Zorn left last month after seven seasons in Seattle to become the Redskins' offensive coordinator. Washington then promoted Zorn to head coach.

His arrival still leaves Seattle in need of a running backs coach, because Stump Mitchell left Wednesday to join Zorn in Washington.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Fire Ted Thompson


(there, outta the way)

Good luck to you Wahle, have fun blocking for the slug formerly known as Shaun Alexander.

I doubt he plays much longer, that injury a couple of seasons ago seemed to really take a toll on him.

Slugs? They're not that slow.

That reminds me of a joke.

Do you know what the slug said who was riding on the back of a turtle?

"Weeeeeee!"

That and the huge sack o' money Seattle gave him.

I think being close to home was a factor.. born and raised in OR.

Plus he seems down to earth, so he probably has enough money that he didn't need to break the "piggy"-bank.

Yeah, I hear that a lot about contract negotiations. "I've made enough money in my career" is always at the top of the list.

Alright Trom.. he probably could have stayed a free agent until the market opened or shopped himself around and landed a bigger deal, but since he is from the NorthWest area, probably decided that it was enough and just signed the deal.. Oh wait was that sarcasm.. oh well nevermind then.

I think you put too much stock in the "Close to home" stuff. If anything, these athletes like to go to warm weather teams or party cities. But Wahle is an aww shucks "It's close to home, I'll do it....and yeah, by the way, pay me a lot of money too, even though I made a lot in my career." I don't buy it.

But whatever, he's not on this team(thankfully, especially at that price). There will be a lot more of these FAs who won't be signing with us.

Done with the thread.

For the giggles.. went an looked at a article for his signing.. maybe something to the "aww shucks" theory.. but oh well Trom is done with the thread. :lol:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/02/14/seahawks.wahle.ap/index.html

*** EDIT - Guess I should have looked at the article at the start of the thread, eh. LOL. ****

By BOB McGINN
bmcginn@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Feb. 25, 2008

Indianapolis - Mike Wahle might turn out to be the Green Bay Packers' best option to improve at guard in 2008 but they didn't even give him a contract proposal.


Former Packers guard Mike Wahle signed a five-year, $20 million deal with the Seahawks earlier this month, and did not get a contract proposal from Green Bay.


Three days after being released by the Carolina Panthers for salary-cap reasons, Wahle signed a five-year, $20 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 14 that contained a modest signing bonus of $3.5 million and just $5.5 million in guaranteed money.

Wahle said his only contact with the Packers was one or two telephone conversations with personnel analyst John Schneider.

"I'm not going to get into it with you," coach Mike McCarthy said over the weekend. "I'm not going to comment on players going other places.

"I'll just say this. I saw limited tape on him. I think he still can play. I was impressed with Mike. Mike was supposed to come in to our place and that's how it goes."

General manager Ted Thompson, who helped bring Wahle to Green Bay in 1998 as a second-round pick in the supplemental draft, said the Packers "never really talked about that (money) with him. We never got specific about that."

A source said the Packers informed agent Neil Cornrich they thought Wahle was worth a shorter-term contract averaging about $3 million with a signing bonus of about $2.5 million.

Wahle's deal in Seattle averaged $4 million. His base salaries were $2 million in 2008, $3.1 million in '09 and '10 and $3.9 million in '11 and '12. He also had a $100,000 workout bonus each year.

"We talked to them plenty but, shoot, you'd have to ask them," Wahle said when asked about the Packers' plans to offer him less than Seattle. "When I got up to Seattle things kind of felt right and that was that."

From 2001-'04, Wahle performed as well if not better than any guard in Green Bay since Gale Gillingham's career wound down in the early 1970s. When Thompson declined to pay Wahle a $6 million roster bonus in February 2005, he went to Carolina for $27 million over five years.

The Packers still haven't replaced Wahle to a satisfactory level, at least not befitting a 13-3 team.

Daryn Colledge started most of the time at left guard the past two seasons but was benched more than once. Right guard Jason Spitz and Junius Coston are about on a par with Colledge, and Allen Barbre will get a chance to start in his second season as well.

Pittsburgh's Alan Faneca is the best guard in the unrestricted free-agent market but it's almost a certainty the Packers won't participate in the bidding wars that annually mark the first few days of the signing period.

Other than signing Faneca, Green Bay's next-best option for immediate help at guard would be drafting Virginia's Branden Albert in the first round. Unless the Packers trade up, there's not much chance of them landing Albert with their 30th selection.

Wahle, who will be 31 next month, made the Pro Bowl two years ago for Carolina. He also underwent major shoulder surgery in 2006.

"We thought about him," a personnel director for an NFC team said. "We thought at the end of the season he almost wore down. He's not the player he used to be, but he's still solid."

A native of California, Wahle indicated that a move to the West Coast was ideal for him and his family. However, he wouldn't have gone anywhere unless the team had Super Bowl potential, an effective offense and a good quarterback.

"Obviously, I took it very seriously when Green Bay contacted us," Wahle said. "I have the utmost respect for that franchise. I have friends there. It would be an easy transition in a lot of aspects for me.

"There's no question I could have made more money (by waiting). Money was very, very far down my list of important things at this point. There's a ton of positives in Green Bay and Seattle. I was fortunate they both called."

Four free-agent guards (Leonard Davis, Derrick Dockery, Kris Dielman and Eric Steinbach) landed new deals last March with guaranteed money ranging from $16.7 million to $18.75 million.

It's the second time that Thompson didn't act to have Wahle. If the Packers had made a lucrative offer, it's possible Wahle would have visited Green Bay first and signed almost on the spot.

"I think he would have been a nice addition but it didn't work out," Thompson said. "We do stuff like that all the time and it doesn't work out.

"They were kind of in a position where I think they had to make a choice, and they made a choice. It's just got to be a fit for everybody. That one just didn't quite work out."