When Seahawks coach Pete Carroll announced that Russell Wilson had won the team's starting quarterback job, the first question to pop to mind was this: wow, how does Seattle owner Paul Allen feel about agreeing to a $19.5 million contract with his brand-new backup quarterback Matt Flynn? I mean, isn't Pete Carroll walking a fine line here? Risk upsetting his boss by sitting the team's most-discussed offseason free agent acquisition or, if the thought in the locker room is the man most qualified for the job should be the starter, risk upsetting his players by giving the job to the guy who doesn't most deserve it? “I don't want that to matter to me,†Carroll said. “We understand there is a thought about that, but as a coach I'm doing this for the competitive reasons -- in the fact that come out and if a guy gets paid more and he's playing backup, he better be a pretty good backup. He better play well and better perform well, so I don't think any fan out there would want me to make a decision based on how much a guy is getting paid. You want the best guy at that time to play for us and that's exactly how I see it. We are going to keep standing up for that. I'm not trying to make any statements. That's just the facts.†Why did the Seahawks have to pay so much money to Flynn on, really, the basis of two good games he had with the Packers? “That's the price of free agency,†Carroll said. “That's the market. The market was drive[n] there and we had to pay that price to get the player to come to our program.†Source: CBS Sports
I'd be more concerned about my own decisions to give the guy a bunch of money if he can't even come in and beat out the rookie..
