Seahawks Blue: Vikings Pillage Team's Second-Best Player

Honeymoon's over, Seahawks front office. You greedy fools.

The Seahawks thought they'd save a little money by designating All-Pro left guard Steve Hutchinson a transition player instead of as an untouchable franchise player.

As a franchise player, Hutchinson would have gotten a guaranteed contract and stayed a Seahawk. As a transition player, other teams could offer Hutchison a deal. The Hawks probably figured, hey, we'll save a little money with Hutchinson as a transition player, and if another team offers him a deal, we'll just match it.

Unfortunately, the tricky Vikings offered Hutchinson a deal the Seahawks may have to refuse.

They included a clause in his contract saying that if Hutchinson wasn't the highest-paid lineman on the team, he'd get guaranteed money. And since the Seahawks' Walter Jones makes more than the $49 million Hutchinson's being offered, if they were to match the Vikings' offer, the Seahawks would have to guarantee the entire deal, something that could cripple the team financially.

A very tricky move by the Vikings, and it makes us wonder how far they could go. Could they offer Hutchison the premiership of Canada for every season in which his team doesn't face the Packers? Or a six-pack of authenticated Elvis vomit for every game where he doesn't wear purple?

Seems to us like the Hawks got hosed, but they brought it on themselves. Along with Jones, Hutchinson formed a stone wall on Matt Hasselbeck's blind side. If the Hawks' QB gets Joe Theismanned this year, we'll know who to blame.

Update: The Hawks didn't match the Vikings deal, so Hutchinson goes to Minnesota. They signed LB Julian Peterson with the money that was earmarked for Hutchinson, and may move Robbie Tobeck to guard.