Wistrom happy to be hanging out with Seahawks
KIRKLAND – The jokes were inevitable.
When Robbie Tobeck is your new teammate, and you get a $14 million signing bonus, you’re going to hear about it.
For Grant Wistrom, it happened the day that an internet site came out with its list of the 10 most overpaid players in the NFL. Wistrom, the Seattle Seahawks’ well-compensated defensive end, was No. 6 on the list after signing a six-year, $33 million contract that included the team-record bonus last March.
Tobeck was the first to bring the list to Wistrom’s attention.
“That’s crap, man,” Wistrom claims to have shot back, feigning anger. ” should at least be in the top three.”
While the Seahawks gave Wistrom a fat check because of what they expect him to do on the field, he’s turned out to be a pretty nice fit off of it as well.
“He’s blending in well,” said Tobeck, a 34-year-old offensive lineman who doubles as the Seahawks’ resident smart aleck. “The obvious jokes are the big money and all that, but he just kind of embraces it and rolls with it.”
Wistrom, 28, has only known one NFL team for his entire career. He spent his first six seasons with the St. Louis Rams. But according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rams only offered Wistrom a five-year, $16.5 million contract that included a $5 million signing bonus. So he decided to explore the free agent market.
Wistrom’s first stop was Seattle, and the Seahawks never let him out of the building. Their offer blew Wistrom’s socks off, and an agreement was spawned.
Unfortunately for Wistrom, his Seahawks career thus far has been more about building relationships than working on technique. He sat out for nearly four weeks of training camp due to plantar fasciitis, an injury to his right heel. He attended practices, but had to watch from the sideline.
In the meantime, he spent camp getting to know his teammates in the dormitories and meeting rooms of Eastern Washington University.
“This team gets along as well as any team that I’ve been a part of,” said Wistrom, who returned to practice this week and is expected to make his Seahawks debut in Thursday’s game against Minnesota. “That’s why I think we were so successful in St. Louis during the time I was there.”
Wistrom’s laid-back sense of humor seems to have meshed with his new teammates. Now he’ll show whether his play can do the same.
“These are my teammates, this is my team, this is the city where I live, and these are the guys that I’m going to win with,” Wistrom said. “As far as having any ties to the Rams, that’s not there any more. I’m a Seahawk now, and I feel that 100 percent. I’m excited about going out and playing with these guys.”