Seahawks Retain Leroy Hill
By author
I hate to say “I told you so”, and, well … I won’t. Because although I was optimistic that Leroy Hill would re-sign and impressed by personnel decisions made by general manager Tim Ruskell, I would be lying if I told you I was sure Hill would return next season.
And now that it is official that Leroy Hill will be retained, I couldn’t be happier. Seattle now has one of the most formidable – and young – group of linebackers in the NFL.
On Thursday, Leroy Hill agreed to a six-year contract that could be worth up to $38 million, with $15.5 million in guarantees. By Friday, he was practicing in Seattle’s minicamp, which opened the same day.
Tim Ruskell and the rest of the front office did an outstanding job handling this situation, which fortunately ended perfectly for Seattle. Hopefully this silenced most of the Ruskell-haters out there as well, who tend to throw a lot of unwarranted criticism his way.
The front office has performed admirably this offseason, and Tim Ruskell has demonstrated that he is one of the better general managers in the league. Aside from the Hutchinson debacle, he hasn’t made very many mistakes. And to be honest, I don’t entirely blame him for Steve Hutchinson’s departure.
I don’t mean to put Tim Ruskell on a high pedestal and declare him the next Bill Walsh, but I do believe that he is doing a great job. Good ownership generally translates into a quality organization, and that phenomenon is definitely evident here in Seattle.
Criticism isn’t always a bad thing; among other things, it motivates an organization to make good decisions and put a competitive product on the field. There are some times, however, when fans need to take a step back and breathe. A lot of people were quick to judge Ruskell, and he is probably deserving of an apology – one in the form of confidence.
To demonstrate how quickly fans jumped on Ruskell’s back without even analyzing the situation, here is a quick group of quotes that I collected shortly after the franchise tag was removed on Leroy Hill:
"Agreed, this is a lot like the Hutch situation. Somebody needs to teach Ruskell how the Franchise Tag works….pathetic."
"Ruskell handles drafts wonderfully. But he’s a booger eating moron when it comes to dealing with Franchise/transition tags."
"Ruskell needs his head examined. This SUCKS. What was started as a GREAT day with draft is crap now. Thanks Ruskell."
"Tim Ruskell has turned to the Dark Side ever since Holmgren left."
"Under no circumstance would it be wise to pull the tag."
"I dont like Ruskell- Ive had it. Botching Hutchinson, letting his ego getting in the way with his- handling of Josh Brown, Bobby Engram -keeping the ever injured Branch and now the fiasco with Peterson and Hill. He doesnt draft a OL to protect Matt- instead gets a linebacker to replace Peterson and when it is all over we may end up with Lofa and a rookie LB- how does that make us better. Fire Ruskell hire Holmgren."
"Too bad Ruskell is all about the “good guys” and won’t go after someone like Plaxico Burress. TR needs to go ASAP."
To the credit of the 12th Man, some of these quotes were excerpts from larger posts, and a lot of fans were siding with Ruskell on the decision to rescind the franchise tag. The majority of people seemed shocked or angry at first, but then began to realize what kind of strategy Tim Ruskell was employing.
Fortunately for us, it all worked out in the end. Now we can all come together again and hope for the best going into next season.