Hawks focus on the big picture

Even the lure of adding one of the top pass rushers in NFL history wasn’t enough to cause the Seahawks to lose focus from their long-term vision.

So that meant Seahawks fans woke up Wednesday morning to the somewhat surprising news that free-agent defensive end Jared Allen had signed with the Chicago Bears instead of Seattle.

Allen signed a four-year contract worth up to $32 million with a reported $15.5 million guaranteed. Seattle had been offering a two-year contract worth $12 million, according to ESPN.com.

While not going into specifics on the numbers, coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider each confirmed this week that they weren’t offering Allen as much as he would get elsewhere.

“We’re limited in what we can do in terms of our cap space and what we want to do with our young football team, and he has a limit, too, in terms of what he can do,” Schneider said to NFL.com. “There just has to be a balance. … Anything that we were able to offer was not out of disrespect or anything. It was just trying to fit the pieces together.”

And that means, above all else, keeping the players that Seattle has identified as the key to remaining elite for the long haul – specifically, safety Earl Thomas, cornerback Richard Sherman and quarterback Russell Wilson.

Sherman and Thomas can become free agents after the 2014 season. The Seahawks, though, could offer either extensions before then, and have been rumored to be focused on getting something done with Thomas first, likely before the 2014 season.

Seattle could still add a cheaper free agent or two to the defensive line, the one spot where it has consistently pursued players throughout free agency. Along with Allen, Seattle also brought in Jason Hatcher and Henry Melton for visits before each signed elsewhere.

Seattle could also take a defensive lineman in the NFL draft May 8-10.

Before the Super Bowl, Schneider said the team had already begun to lay out a strategy for staying consistently competitive rather than, as he put it, being a team that cruises in for one year and then cruises out the next.

Seahawks fans are undoubtedly restless seeing their team lose players without getting much in return, and surely even more so after seeing Allen get away.

But it also showed again Seattle’s belief in its long-range plan.