Tofflemire Lives Amid The Ghosts
Seahawks ghosts.
Joe Tofflemire sees them as he looks out over the team’s practice field.
There’s the apparitions of the guys in his draft “class” - Andy Heck and nine other dearly departeds.
There’s the centers he’s played with - guys like Grant Feasel, Ray Donaldson and a handful of anonymous free agents. All gone.
There’s the quarterbacks who became very familiar with him - Dave Krieg, Kelly Stouffer, Dan McGwire, Jeff Graham, etc.
In fact, of the 80 players comprising the Seahawks’ current roster, only three - Joe Nash, Eugene Robinson and Brian Blades - have been here longer than Tofflemire.
“There’s not many guys here from my first year,” Tofflemire said. “I just turned 30 the other day, so I’m starting to feel a little old, and maybe I’m on the downhill side of things, but I feel good, really good.”
Tofflemire, a Post Falls High and University of Arizona grad, is entering his seventh season. And while Nash (158 starts), Robinson (136 starts) and Blades (88 starts) have enjoyed high-profile careers, Tofflemire has registered just 16 starts.
Still, his should be considered a success story.
“Sure, I’d rather have been injury-free and now going into my fifth or sixth year as a starter,” Tofflemire said. “But this is not a bad situation. I’m going into my seventh year in the league and that’s nothing to hang your head down about. Nobody should feel sorry for me.”
At Arizona, Tofflemire may have had one of the best careers ever for a Pacific-10 Conference center. He earned first-team all-conference three times - and as a freshman, he was second- team. He won the 1988 Morris Trophy as the league’s finest lineman.
Seattle drafted him in the second round, although some critics contended he was on the short side at 6-foot-2.
Injuries kept him on the shelf for most of his first three seasons before he won the starting job and was a regular all 16 games in 1992.
A nagging shoulder injury, though, returned him to a reserve role behind Donaldson the last two years.
Now, with talented veteran Jim Sweeney brought in from the New York Jets, Tofflemire again faces a battle for playing time.
“They told me before I signed that I’d have a chance to compete for the job,” Tofflemire said. “I know my attitude is that I’m coming out here to win the job, just like I do every year. If you come out and say, ‘I’m a backup and that’s all I am and I’m satisfied with that,’ then you lose your edge and intensity. You can’t do that; it’s too competitive out there.”
Sweeney, entering his 12th season, doesn’t look susceptible to much bench time, having started 158 consecutive games.
“He’s a veteran, he’s intelligent, and he knows the game,” Tofflemire said. “But I’m still going to compete against him and try to look as good as I can.”
Changes that brought head coach Dennis Erickson to Seattle haven’t affected the offensive linemen much, Tofflemire said, considering that Erickson retained highly regarded line coach Howard Mudd.
“That allowed us to keep some continuity in the line, and I think that’s important for us,” he said.
A change in attitude, though, has accompanied the appearance of the new staff.
“I think everybody feels they’ve got something to prove; there’s a new staff and the things you’ve done in the past don’t mean much,” Tofflemire said. “What’s important now is how hard you work and how you approach practice.”
Headlines have captured a number of Seahawks off-season woes, but Tofflemire said none of that has affected the team.
“That stuff hasn’t even been brought up by anybody,” Tofflemire said. “If somebody is involved in it, then he’s got to deal with it, but there’s not much talk about any of that on the team.”
Tofflemire says his shoulder is healthy and he’s happy with his contract situation with the Hawks.
“I’m really pleased; they’ve been very fair to me and I’m looking forward to the season.”
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