Call it fun and games. Call it a message. Or simply call it payback time.
The Seahawks have apparently gotten their revenge against the Minnesota Vikings with an enormous – yet non-coincidentally familiar – contract offer to restricted free agent wide receiver Nate Burleson.
The O'Dea High School grad has signed an offer sheet for seven years, $49 million, the same deal the Vikings offered Steve Hutchinson to leave Seattle almost two weeks ago. The offer sheet carries with it two "poison pills," or provisions that guarantee the entire contract if they occur, just as Hutchinson's contract contained the provision that he be the highest-paid offensive lineman on his team from the time he signed the offer sheet.
Sources close to the situation say Burleson's entire deal is guaranteed if he plays five games in the state of Minnesota during any one year of the deal. Another offbeat provision is believed to be that if Burleson is paid more on average per year than all of the Seahawks' running backs combined, all of the deal is guaranteed.
In other words, Burleson will become a Seahawk in no more than seven days, which is the amount of time the Vikings have to match any offer for him. And that seems impossible.
Burleson visited with the Seahawks last week, then returned this afternoon to Kirkland to sign the offer sheet. The Seahawks must compensate the Vikings with their third-round draft choice in this year's NFL Draft, which is one of bottom picks of the round.
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