(Yes, I messed up Whitehurst’s name on my original post; sorry about that).
The Seattle Seahawks rolled the dice and packaged some draft picks for a guy most of us have never heard of — Charlie Whitehurst. A former Clemson QB, he’s been stuck in San Diego behind Phillip Rivers and Billy Volek. But the Seahawks pried him loose. Some say the price was too steep — swapping No. 2 picks with the Chargers this year and giving the Bolts another third-rounder in 2011, plus giving Whitehurst a two-year, $8 million contract.
Value, however, is in the eye of the beholder, and something about Whitehurst impressed the new Seahawks coaching staff and front office regime. If it works out, it’ll be a steal for the Seahawks.
Here’s a list of some other free agent quarterbacks who recently found new homes: Former Seattle backup Seneca Wallace signed with Cleveland, as did Jake Delhomme; David Carr landed with the 49ers, A.J. Feeley went to Detroit, Brady Quinn’s now in Denver, Derek Anderson hooked on with the Cardinals, Jim Sorgi will be holding a clipboard for the N.Y. Giants, Shaun Hill’s now with the Lions and Rex Grossman joined the Washington Redskins.
Out of that mix, who would you want to be your backup for 2010? I’d just as soon gamble on Charlie Whitehursst. He’s never thrown a pass in an NFL regular season game, but that’s mostly because of the situation he found himself in San Diego.
Nine years ago, the Seahawks gambled on a backup quarterback who’d never started a regular season game. Matt Hasselbeck was stuck behind a guy named Brett Favre. Hasselbeck turned out to be pretty good. Let’s give this Whitehurst guy a chance.
