Hawks' Marcus Trufant gets six more years

KIRKLAND — The footprints of Marcus Trufant's football career cover a good part of this state.

From Wilson High School in Tacoma on over to Washington State and then into the NFL as a first-round draft choice of the Seattle Seahawks.

So when Trufant packed his family into a car on Wednesday for the next stop in his football career, they traveled a familiar road. Just a few exits north to the Seahawks headquarters in Kirkland, where Trufant signed a six-year contract worth $50.2 million that includes a $10 million signing bonus and $28 million that will be paid out over the first three years.

"You know what's right and you know where you're supposed to be at the end of the day," Trufant said. "It just felt like I'm always supposed to be a Seahawk."

He is like the prodigal son who never had to leave Washington. The one the Seahawks chose in the first round in 2003 who developed into a Pro Bowl cornerback this past season when he intercepted seven passes.

"I just always felt this is where he should be," coach Mike Holmgren said of Trufant. "And he should be here for the rest of his career. He means so much to the city. He is a product of this area. It just made too much sense to me.

"I want to congratulate Marcus and his representatives, his family and also our organization for making this happen because it's the right thing to do."

This isn't just about Trufant staying put. It's about the Seahawks standing pat with their defense.

A vote of confidence in all the moves made the past three years. Drafting players like Lofa Tatupu, Leroy Hill and Kelly Jennings who are now starters. Signing veteran free agents like Julian Peterson, Patrick Kerney, Deon Grant and Brian Russell.

Seattle's defense was rebuilt in Tim Ruskell's first three years as president. Now it is being retained.

The big free-agent additions were made on offense: guard Mike Wahle and running backs Julius Jones and T.J. Duckett. The two most notable remaining holes on the roster are at kicker and tight end.

And for the defense? Well, only five teams allowed fewer points than Seattle last season.

"We feel really good about the group," Ruskell said. "We're big proponents of continuity, keeping them together. As long as you can keep the group together, they keep getting better and better."

Ruskell learned that in Tampa Bay, where the Buccaneers put together one of the league's best defenses in the 1990s by drafting players like Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp and John Lynch and then keeping that core together until Tampa Bay won a Super Bowl.

"We'd like to duplicate that here," Ruskell said. "I think part of how you do that is keep your good players and re-sign them after their original deal and get them for the life of their career."

That's why Seattle signed linebacker Lofa Tatupu last week to a long-term deal two years before he would have been a free agent. That's why the Seahawks gave Trufant a long-term contract instead of having him play out one season at a salary of $9.5 million as the franchise player and then revisit the question of his future next season.

"It was long and it was hard and it was, at times, tough," Ruskell said of the negotiations with Trufant. "But when two entities have the same goal ... you keep pushing and you keep pushing and it gets done."

The agreement came less than a week before Trufant's wedding. His fiancee, Jessica, attended Wednesday's announcement. Their wedding will be in Seattle as will his NFL future.

Danny O'Neil: 206-464-2364 or doneil@seattletimes.com