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Alexander staying put

Shaun Alexander agreed to an eight-year, $62-million deal. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Gregg Bell Associated Press
Shaun Alexander agreed to an eight-year, $62-million deal. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

SEATTLE – NFL Most Valuable Player Shaun Alexander has agreed to a $62 million, eight-year contract to remain with the Seattle Seahawks, his agent said Sunday night.

Jim Steiner said the deal is the richest ever for an NFL running back and will pay the league’s leading rusher more than $15.1 million in guaranteed cash, through signing and other bonuses and 2006 base salary.

Steiner told the Associated Press of the signing in a telephone interview, minutes after the NFL pushed back the start of the free-agent signing period 72 hours to Thursday.

The league still must approve the contract, and Alexander has yet to sign it.

The team is waiting for the contract to become official before announcing the deal, though a press conference at team headquarters could come as early as this afternoon.

“They definitely wanted to do this,” Steiner said of the Seahawks bringing back Alexander, who set an NFL record with 28 touchdowns last season. “And Seattle was Shaun’s first choice all along.”

Last month, in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Steiner said the two sides had “a long way to go” in getting a deal done.

Yet in the aftermath of Seattle’s Super Bowl loss to Pittsburgh, team owner Paul Allen, coach Mike Holmgren and Alexander himself all said they believed the franchise’s career rushing leader with 7,817 yards over six seasons would remain with the Seahawks.

Steiner said Sunday night that negotiations began to make substantial progress immediately after team officials returned from the league’s annual rookie combine late last month.

It was widely assumed Alexander would command over $20 million in guarantees – given that last offseason, Seattle sprang for a $16 million bonus to re-sign Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and another $20 million-plus in bonuses to keep perennial Pro Bowl tackle Walter Jones.

Then came this week’s wild shifts in the NFL’s labor negotiations and the subsequent impact on the Seahawks’ deadline to re-sign Alexander before free agency began. Steiner said the discussions were being complicated by new league rules requiring no base salary increase of more than 30 percent between seasons.

Steiner declined to reveal exactly how Alexander’s $62 million is structured. But to meet league approval, Alexander presumably may be getting an average base salary above the $6.323 million for which he had his record-breaking season as the Seahawks’ franchise-player designee last season.

The deal should not affect Seattle’s ability to comply with the league’s 2006 salary cap by Thursday.