Seattle blooms with Reinfeldt’s return
SEATTLE – A few weeks back, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck bumped into dealmaker Mike Reinfeldt while filling up at a local gas station. A few weeks later, Reinfeldt had re-signed Hasselbeck – one of a handful of deals likely to prove critical to the team’s future.
During their short conversation, Reinfeldt, a former vice president with the Seahawks, told Hasselbeck he’d been called in as a consultant to help negotiate with Seattle’s laundry list of free agents.
“He said … ‘I just want you to know that I think you’re an important key to our team and I’m going to make it a priority to get you done,’ ” Hasselbeck said. “It was short, but we had a nice little conversation. Everything about it felt good.”
With the team cleaning house in the front office, Reinfeldt entered the picture Feb. 3 and turned an off-season littered with question marks into a positive situation.
The Seahawks signed Hasselbeck and offensive tackle Walter Jones to long-term contracts, allowing the team to designate Pro Bowl running back Shaun Alexander their franchise player and keep him under their control.
“Mike Reinfeldt and the people involved have done a great job,” said new Seahawks president Tim Ruskell. “I look forward to a long relationship there if that’s the way it works out.”
Reinfeldt was a senior vice president in charge of contract negotiation with the Seahawks for five years. He left the organization before the start of last season after turning down a new contract, and amid speculation of tension with then-president Bob Whitsitt.
But owner Paul Allen fired Whitsitt on Jan. 14. With no president and free agency problems looming, Reinfeldt was brought back to lead negotiations with Seattle’s 16 unrestricted free agents.
Immediately, Reinfeldt set his sights on Jones, who had spent the previous three seasons as Seattle’s franchise player, playing under a series of one-year contracts.
Jones’ agent, Roosevelt Barnes, noticed an immediate difference in Reinfeldt’s leeway in getting the deal finished.
“It just seemed like Mike had a lot of freedom this time around in being able to stretch and get the deal done,” Barnes said.
Reinfeldt’s relationship with agents comes from player personnel jobs with the Green Bay Packers and Seahawks since 1991. His experience as a former player also helps in the process. Reinfeldt played nine years in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers.
How Reinfeldt fits into the Seahawks future remains to be determined.
For now, he’ll continue working with Seattle’s 13 remaining free agents and evaluating talent the Seahawks will pursue when the free-agent signing period begins Wednesday.