‘Above my wildest dreams’: Matt Hasselbeck on Seahawks Ring of Honor induction

When the Seahawks take on the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, it won’t be just another primetime game in Seattle at Lumen Field.

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At halftime, Matt Hasselbeck, who was the starting quarterback for the Seahawks from 2001 to 2010 and set a number of franchise records along the way, will become the 13th person inducted into the Seahawks Ring of Honor.

Hasselbeck, a three-time Pro Bowl quarterback during his time in Seattle, is perhaps best known for leading the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl appearance in 2005 as well as six playoff appearances. He finished his career in Seattle with a 69-62 record, 29,434 passing yards, 174 touchdowns and 128 interceptions.

As he does every Wednesday, Hasselbeck joined Mike Salk on 710 ESPN Seattle for The Matt Hasselbeck Show. But instead of diving into the Seahawks’ play a week ago, Hasselbeck was asked about entering the Ring of Honor and his time as Seattle’s starting quarterback.

“I can’t even tell you how excited I am, how excited my family is,” he told Salk. “Not only to go out to Seattle for a Monday Night Football game against the Saints that should be awesome, but the Ring of Honor is just something that is over and above my wildest dreams early on in Seattle. This was something I was certainly aware of with the great names that are up there. I can’t even put into words right now what it means. It’s very cool.”

Salk asked Hasselbeck about how much he knew about the history of the Seahawks and the franchise’s legends when he came to Seattle from Green Bay. Hasselbeck explained that the coaching staff made sure that the players understood who had come before them.

“When I got traded there when Mike Holmgren traded for me, I didn’t know everything that I needed to know, and I didn’t know every name up there,” Hasselbeck said. “I knew some of the names, for sure, like Dave Kreig and Jim Zorn and Curt Warner and some of those names, but I didn’t know enough about Kenny Easley or Dave Brown or Jacob Green, even. I think it was one of the great things of being coached my coach Holmgren and that staff was they really cared about the history and the tradition and the foundation that was set there.”

Hasselbeck said that one of his favorite parts of playing for the Seahawks was when former players would come to their games.

“You saw how much excitement they had for our game — and we were the ones in uniform and they were just former players — it gives me goosebumps now to think about it,” he said.

And while he was still in the league at the time, Hasselbeck got to feel that kind of excitement in the 2013 season when the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl.

“I felt it myself when Seattle wins that Super Bowl in New York as a former player and as someone with a ton of Seahawks pride and Seattle pride,” Hasselbeck said. “Then I fully grasped what it felt like for those guys — the Steve Largent crew — and what it meant to them.”

Hasselbeck will be joined by his wife and children, his parents, one of his brothers and his family, and a lot of close friends when he gets inducted on Monday.

“I’m kind of treating it like a business trip where I’m going to stay focus and I guess understand I have a small role with what’s going on that night,” he said. “I’m really excited for that and definitely excited to do it in front of the 12s and that crowd there in Seattle.”

Listen to The Matt Hasselbeck Show, where he also discusses some of his top moments with the Seahawks, at this link or in the player below.

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