Chalk up departure to Josh Brown's power play

In hindsight, Josh Brown did more than sign the largest contract ever for a kicker last week. He avoided being a hostage, too.

"I'm not a prisoner to the businessman," Brown said Monday morning during a KJR-AM interview with Dave Mahler.

Free at last, free at last, thank the St. Louis Rams, Brown is free at last.

Who knew the Seahawks' $14 million offer came with shackles? It's a good thing Brown found the money he wanted without having his rights violated.

The Seahawks offered him a record deal while trying to manage their salary-cap situation. To borrow an old Randy Moss line, Brown wanted straight cash, homey, and if those hundreds could've been stuffed into a duffel bag, all the better.

It's hard to take this controversy seriously. Much ado about a kicker? A kicker! Yes, Brown has been important and clutch. Yes, the Seahawks could have missed the playoffs two years ago if not for his game-winning efforts. Yes, Brown is more charismatic than most of these specialists. But he's still a kicker. A kicker! And all the fuss about his departure will likely end up being inconsequential.

Brown admitted he was a rookie at contract negotiations. After a year of haggling over his worth, he took the Seahawks' financial-responsibility rationale too personally. Tim Ruskell, like every general manager, has a plan for salary-cap flexibility, and you only deviate from the plan for certain players. You don't rewrite the script for a kicker. A kicker! You just don't, especially when your team needs to fix its running game and find a tight end.

The Seahawks had a fair offer, a historic offer, in place. The Rams wound up signing Brown for about $200,000 more, but the signing bonus was the real issue. St. Louis offered him $4 million upfront. Seattle wanted to divvy up that $4 million differently: spread the bonus money over several years by offering roster bonuses in addition to a smaller signing bonus. The Seahawks really weren't offering Brown less money; they were just finagling their cap.

To Brown, it was a disrespectful move. He didn't want to be "a prisoner to the businessman."

So he took his heated pants to St. Louis. He got what he wanted. And now he wants to play the victim.

Athletes are so bad at trying to mask their desire for more dough. Patrick Ewing set the dunce standard during the NBA lockout 10 years ago when he said, "Yeah, we make a lot of money, but we spend a lot of money, too." Brown massages the English language much more effectively, yet he still sounds foolish.

He says he's not bitter about leaving, but his remarks taste like pale ale. First there was the imprisonment line, which he repeated several times. Then he questioned the Seahawks' will to win, brushing off the fact that he just left the four-time defending NFC West champs for a bottom-dwelling division rival that finished 3-13 last season.

Later, during a Seattle Times interview, Brown said the Seahawks never stood a chance once the free-agency period began. After a year of negotiating, he wasn't going to give the Seahawks an opportunity to match.

So this silly controversy comes down to what it always does in the NFL: control. In a sport without guaranteed contracts, players only have control when they are free agents.

"Once I hit the market, I knew I was going to have to go somewhere," Brown said.

Why? It's more about ego than greed. I don't fault Brown for taking the most money he could get. Kickers don't have the earning capacity of quarterbacks, and because they are so low on the NFL pay scale, kickers are always two bad games from unemployment. The way Brown left, however — screaming he was wronged and running away more out of pettiness than good sense — is disappointing.

"I left because it wasn't coming out the way I thought it should have, and I got the ultimate decision," Brown said.

If you're to blame the Seahawks for something, blame them for having a hard time coming to long-term deals with their own players. Brown comes after losing Steve Hutchinson in 2006, and now the Seahawks are fighting to figure out how to sign cornerback Marcus Trufant to a new contract. In the near future, middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, a must-keep, will be ready for a fresh contract.

Although losing good players is a reality in the NFL, Ruskell needs to start having major breakthroughs in retention. Perhaps the most difficult task of any football GM is locking up key players at the right price.

Hutchinson was a loss to truly lament. Brown? Not so much, as long as the Seahawks bring in two or three capable kickers to compete for the job in training camp.

Five years ago, the Seahawks lost a kicker in free agency. Rian Lindell, a Washington State product, left for Buffalo, and though he wasn't a very good clutch kicker, there was concern about how the franchise would replace him.

So the Seahawks drafted a kicker in the seventh round.

His name: Josh Brown. Mr. Emancipated was once a Plan B.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com. For more columns and the Extra Points blog, visit seattletimes.com/sports