Top pick Curry now 6 days late to Seahawks camp

After six days of training camp, the Seahawks are still without top draft choice Aaron Curry.

And coach Jim Mora still isn't thinking about the fourth overall pick.

Curry missed his eighth and ninth consecutive practices Wednesday morning and evening. Negotiations on the outside linebacker's rookie contract remain stalled.

"I haven't given it a lot of thought," Mora said. "My philosophy has always been to let the people who are responsible for the negotiations do the job they are responsible for doing. I think they do an excellent job. I just focus on the guys who are here.

"You may not believe it, but I don't think about it every day. I don't go up to my office and say, 'Oh, when is Aaron going to get in?' When he gets here, he gets here and we'll go to work. Whatever time that is ..."

Mora didn't say if the extended absence will leave Curry behind in learning Seattle's new defensive schemes and cause him to miss preseason games. Those begin Aug. 25 at San Diego.

Seattle general manager Tim Ruskell has said the sticking point is Curry's representatives basing their position on the $28 million guaranteed that fifth overall pick Mark Sanchez got from the New York Jets.

The Seahawks' stance is that top quarterbacks traditionally get richer deals than players at other positions.

"We'll discount the quarterback deals. And they'll say, 'Nope, there it is,'" Ruskell said last week. "Therein lies the rub of where the deal will get done."

Ruskell had also said negotiations will get easier once the pick immediately above Curry, third overall choice Tyson Jackson, gets signed. But the defensive end from Louisiana State is also unsigned and not in the Kansas City Chiefs' training camp.

It's conceivable the Seahawks could end up giving Curry $30 million guaranteed before his first NFL game - almost double what three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck earned in guarantees from his current contract.

Last year's No. 4 pick, running back Darren McFadden, got a guaranteed $26 million from Oakland.

No wonder Ruskell and fellow NFL executives wouldn't mind the league slotting rookie contracts on a standard scale, like the NBA does.

"That's what everybody's talking about. We're in the midst of a negotiation (on the league's labor agreement). I'm sure that's going to hit the table," Ruskell said. "I would be for that. You know how the veteran players feel about that.

"I'm optimistic that some form of that will happen, because it seems to work. It just seems a little out of whack right now."

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TRUFANT'S TWIST: Marcus Trufant also has missed all of training camp so far. The star cornerback has what Mora has called a "minor" back injury and remains out indefinitely.

Mora said Trufant hurt his back last week in a pre-camp workout with fellow cornerback Josh Wilson by lunging awkwardly for a pass.

"Tru's making progress as well. No time table yet on that. It's day to day," Mora said.

Trufant joins Walter Jones (currently sidelined by back spasms), Hasselbeck (bulging disk in his back last year) and center Chris Spencer (back problems last season) as starters with similar problems.

"We're going to be, probably, as cautious as anybody when it comes to backs," Mora said. "Marcus is an established player. You want them all to practice every day, but Marcus is a conscientious guy who knows the scheme, knows how to play football. So I'm not as concerned with him missing time, as I maybe would be with a young guy."

When asked if he's concerned that Trufant won't be able to play in the opener Sept. 13 against St. Louis, Mora said: "I'm not concerned yet."

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WWU'S SIMMONS SIGNED: The Seahawks waived reserve linebacker Tony Taylor with the designation of injured and signed former Western Washington University linebacker Shane Simmons.

Taylor had a knee injury. Seattle signed the two-year veteran from Georgia as a free agent in May.

Simmons, who went to Kentlake High School in Kent, was in Seattle's minicamp in April for a tryout. He was briefly on the Oakland Raiders' roster in 2008 before being released last June.

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QUICK HITS: WR Deion Branch sat out the evening practice because of a sore knee. He's had two surgeries on his left knee in the last 15 months. ... The offense looked sloppy in both sessions, fumbling, dropping passes and getting stymied by the defense. Players and coaches are talking about fighting through fatigue from nine consecutive practices.