Despite Sweeter Deal, Galloway Won’T Bite

Head coach Mike Holmgren says the Seattle Seahawks sweetened their offer to holdout receiver Joey Galloway. Holmgren was soured when Galloway didn’t accept.

Seattle adjusted its offer from $22 million to $23 million for the first five years of the seven-year contract, which is closer to the contract recently signed by Green Bay’s Antonio Freeman, the NFL’s highest paid receiver.

However, the seven-year offer to Galloway remains worth $35 million, including a signing bonus unchanged at $7 million, the same figures that were already on the table. Freeman’s seven-year contract is worth $42 million, but the last two years are voidable. His first five years are worth $25 million, which is of more relevance.

Holmgren phoned Galloway a few days ago to make sure the speedy receiver knew exactly where the organization stood.

“Sometimes things get lost in the interpretation when you’ve got five people kind of doing it (negotiating),” Holmgren said. “I said, simply, `We want you here, but this is our offer.’ It’s a fair offer.”

Since then, talks have been one-sided.

“We tried to get hold of his agent (Eric Metz) since I’ve talked to Joey - we’ve phoned every day - and he won’t return our calls now,” Holmgren said.

“And that’s it, that’s our offer. I hope he gets in here. We miss him and we want him.”

Galloway, dubbed “Stayaway” by a Seattle columnist, is in the final year of a four-year contract scheduled to pay him nearly $1.6 million this season. The Seahawks thought their latest offer might change Galloway’s mind because of indications he might accept if the gap was narrowed in relation to Freeman’s contract. Galloway didn’t budge, even after talking with Holmgren.

“He knows there’s nobody in this organization that wants him in here more than I do,” Holmgren said. “When you’re new like we are, it was bound to happen with somebody. I think I have to kind of establish how we’re going to do business. I’ve said this - we’re going to be fair… . Joey is under contract. He should be here.”

Galloway has missed two pre-season games and 25 days of training camp at Eastern Washington University.

In Galloway’s absence, the receivers are pressing on with faces unfamiliar to many Seahawks followers. The starters are Sean Dawkins, who signed in the off-season, and Charles Jordan, a seven-year veteran, who was with Miami last season.

Jordan replaced Mike Pritchard, who tore cartilage in his knee during practice Saturday. Pritchard had surgery Monday and is expected to miss two to three weeks.

Holmgren’s offense relies heavily on precision and timing between the quarterback and receivers. It’s impossible, obviously, to work on those intangibles with Galloway holding out and Pritchard on the mend.

“The timing aspect is what this offense is all about,” receivers coach Nolan Cromwell said. “It’s so tough to get an evaluation on a guy when he’s hurt or anything like that. For the quarterbacks, again, the system is new and we’re trying to develop timing and that’s difficult when people are nicked.”

Cromwell said he’s not worried about quarterback Jon Kitna re-establishing timing with Pritchard because the tandem worked well in the first three weeks of training camp.

Galloway attended three of four mini camps so it’s not as if he and Kitna are strangers. But even if Galloway reports soon, there will be considerable catch-up to do and time is running short before the Sept. 12 opener.

“The thing is, Joey is missing camp and that’s where the concentration, the stuff we’ve added and the fine-tuning is done,” Cromwell said. “That’s unfortunate for him and for us. Hopefully, he’ll be in soon, but the guys who are here are working hard and picking up the offense.”

Meanwhile, Dawkins and the rest of the healthy receivers are getting abundant repetitions.

“My legs are tired; I’ve got camp legs,” he said. “But it’s good; it’s good to have an opportunity to go in and make things happen. I think Charles (Jordan) is a pretty good complement with his speed. As long as he stays healthy, we’ll be OK until somebody else comes back - Joey or Pritch.”

Showtime

First, Holmgren rewarded the reserves with a 20-minute scrimmage to close the morning session.

Then, the reserves rewarded him - and players ahead of them on the depth chart watching from the sideline - with a spirited session.

“For the younger fellas who haven’t had much of an opportunity to play in games, that was really a game-like situation and we wanted to get them on film,” Holmgren said. “They had fun.”

Fourth-string quarterback Kevin Kreinhagen led the offense on a touchdown drive, capped by Rufus French’s acrobatic catch in traffic. QBs Kitna, Glenn Foley and Brock Huard greeted Kreinhagen with high-fives.

On the next series, Kreinhagen moved the offense inside the 20, but a fourth-down pass skipped off the fingertips of Charlie Rogers.

“All I’ve done for the three, three and a half weeks I’ve been here is drills and going to meetings and watching the three guys ahead of me,” Kreinhagen said. “I’m just glad coach Holmgren gave me a chance.”

Kreinhagen left the field carrying his and Kitna’s shoulder pads. A spectator (who we’ll graciously refer to as near-sighted) requested an autograph, hollering, “Hey, Jon.” Oops. Kreinhagen eagerly signed anyway.

Notes

Jordan showed his experience in Holmgren’s system - he was a member of the Packers in ‘94-‘95 - by directing a mis-aligned receiver into proper position. “He’s been introduced to the offense before,” Cromwell said. “Now he’s learning some of the things we’ve changed since then.” … The Seahawks are scheduled for 8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m. practices the next two days before breaking camp after Thursday morning’s 8:45 workout.

Seahawks camp Today: Practices at 8:45 a.m. and 2:45 p.m.