Matt Flynn is best insurance policy out there for Seahawks
Mar 20, 2013, 2:43 PM | Updated: 4:12 pm
By Josh Kerns/MyNorthwest.com
Several months ago, 710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard was adamant the Seahawks needed to trade backup quarterback Matt Flynn and his $5.3 million contract. But now that Matt Hasselbeck has signed a deal with the Colts that’ll pay him $4 million this season, Huard is glad he didn’t get his way.
Hasselbeck’s two-year deal with Indianapolis announced Tuesday follows the signing of Matt Cassel in Minnesota to a one-year, $4 million contract, and Miami backup Matt Moore to a two-year, $8 million deal to stay with the Dolphins. Suddenly, Flynn’s contract doesn’t seem so expensive.
“$5 million feels much more palatable than it did initially,” Huard says. “More important than that, there’s no other insurance out there.”
KING 5 sports reporter Chris Egan, guest hosting with Huard Wednesday, agrees.
“I think of Matt Flynn as life insurance. It’s something that everybody needs, yet everybody doesn’t want to use it, yet everybody has to have it.”
The market has changed dramatically since the cavalcade of quarterback moves started during the NFL combine with the 49ers trade of Alex Smith to Kansas City.
“You can sit there two months ago and say if I can get a second or third round pick, if I can make one of those moves to really gain some value back and competent backup, that’s one thing,” Huard says. “There is no other quality life insurance out there right now that I would feel good enough with the way this team is built.”
Huard says now that the market has settled, the Seahawks would be lucky to get a fourth-round pick for Flynn. He likens it to a house that sits on the market while all the others get bought up. At some point the value takes a big hit.
But Huard and Egan both agree it’s a good thing.
“The reality is this is a very violent and dangerous sport, and the reality is Russell Wilson, knock on wood, could get injured, so why not have the best life insurance policy sitting there on the sidelines,” Egan says.
Huard says Flynn could still easily start for another team, and although he doesn’t possess a number of the unique skills of Wilson, he’s a seasoned veteran who knows the Seattle system and can step in and succeed if necessary.
“God forbid if he goes down,” Huard says. “He [Flynn] can play and he can start but he isn’t going to run zone read and he’s not going to do some of these things. He will play pass, he will quick pass. We’ll play to his strengths.”
Given the lack of options, it turns out not trading Flynn could very well be one of the best moves GM John Schneider didn’t make.
