Alexander signed his eight-year, $62 million contract, then held a news conference with team president Tim Ruskell and CEO Tod Leiweke to tell the world he was thrilled to be sticking around.

"Everybody knew that this is my city," Alexander said. "I wanted to play here. My goal when I first got here was to do stuff that Seattle's never seen before. It's really simple when you have good people and everybody's going after the same thing. It's easy to make the decision about coming in."

Alexander said he never really wanted to test the free-agent market. And he ended up getting the largest contract for a running back in NFL history.

"It's nice to have a win after that last game we played," Ruskell said, referring to the Seahawks' loss in Super Bowl XL. "This is indeed a win. ... We've just signed one of the best running backs in the history of the National Football League, in essence, to a lifetime deal. Unless, of course, he plays until he's 40 years old, and then we'll have to do it again, at reduced numbers."

Not long into Alexander's conference, talk turned to the upcoming free-agency period and both the team's and Alexander's thoughts on maintaining the status quo — that is, holding on to many or all of the 13 players who will be free to sign with other teams beginning at 9:01 p.m. Wednesday. That's the current scheduled start time for the NFL free-agency period after two extensions because of the ongoing labor talks.

"Hutch, Mack, Joe, Rock — I mean, we need them all," Alexander said, referring to guard Steve Hutchinson, fullback Mack Strong, wide receiver Joe Jurevicius and defensive tackle Rocky Bernard. Hutchinson is the team's transition player, and the latter three are set to be unrestricted free agents.

"Maurice Morris, you know, that's my little brother," Alexander said. "If we can't get these guys for some reason, I tell them they need to make a fortune somewhere. But unless it's going to be something that's just so much more that it just almost moves you, then come to your family."

Alexander said the Seahawks "have something special here" and added he would ask those players to stay if the Seahawks' offer is close to any other offer.

Barring any signings between now and Wednesday night, linebacker Kevin Bentley, defensive end Joe Tafoya, safeties John Howell and Marquand Manuel and wide receiver Peter Warrick are also among those who could seek employment elsewhere.

The Seahawks are in good financial shape to try to re-sign as many players as they wish. They still have about $10 million available — perhaps as much as $20 million if an extension to the collective-bargaining agreement is reached.

"I feel good in the spot that we're at," Ruskell said. "We've talked to our players. Our coaches have talked to our players. They know how much we want them back.

"Maybe we won't get them all, but we want to keep our core together."

Some agents have expressed the desire to keep their clients in Seattle. Most figure to be retained, in part because they are affordable. Others, like Jurevicius and Bernard, could command bigger money than the Seahawks want to pay.

"We just made a run for the Super Bowl, so everybody's feeling good about themselves," Ruskell said. "Obviously our players become more attractive to other teams. So they get some ideas in their head. We'd love to have them all back, but that's hard to do. We're in a good spot in terms of where our talks are with all of our players."

The optimism was apparent Monday at team headquarters, as Leiweke spoke of how he heard daily from Seahawks fans expressing their desire for the team to hold on to Alexander, and how Qwest Field will be full to capacity again next season. Alexander spoke of winning multiple Super Bowls.

When Alexander arrived back in Seattle on Sunday night, he sent a text message to linebacker Lofa Tatupu.

"I said, 'OK, your big brother is back,' " Alexander said. "He texted me back, 'Well, let's go win the Super Bowl.' And I texted him back, you know, 'More than one.' And that's just kind of how it is. The years of the Seahawks being comfortable just being good are over."

Jos� Miguel Romero: 206-464-2409 or jromero@seattletimes.com

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