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Great move on 2 fronts.
He gets enough money to make him happy and it shows that holding out doesn't work.
I'm glad it worked out for him.

First player in the Carroll era to be extended with more than one year left on his current contract. This is a big precedent. But I think the most important thing about it is that the team showed a willingness to recognise when a contract is being so severely outplayed and address the situation. Bennett decided not to hold out before the season on the promise that theyed get something worked out and the promise has been kept.

I couldn't be happier, for Bennett and for the Seahawks!

Fantastic news, so glad they made a bit of an exception to get him extended.

One of the best defensive players in the NFL, it will be a treat to watch him play another few years here in Seattle, and more importantly, he will do it now being very happy.

c_hawkbob wrote:First player in the Carroll era to be extended with more than one year left on his current contract. This is a big precedent. But I think the most important thing about it is that the team showed a willingness to recognise when a contract is being so severely outplayed and address the situation. Bennett decided not to hold out before the season on the promise that theyed get something worked out and the promise has been kept.

I couldn't be happier, for Bennett and for the Seahawks!

Your not worried that he hasn't gotten a sack since he has come back off his knee surgery CB??

obiken wrote:
Your not worried that he hasn't gotten a sack since he has come back off his knee surgery CB??

No, I consider that a statistical anomaly. Watching him play he's as quick and disruptive and spends as much time in the opponent's backfield as he ever has, it's just happenstance that somebody else has been getting to the QB first. Cliff and Frank wouldn't be getting the sacks they're getting without the attention Bennet gets. That's the life of an inside rusher.

No, I consider that a statistical anomaly. Watching him play he's as quick and disruptive and spends as much time in the opponent's backfield as he ever has, it's just happenstance that somebody else has been getting to the QB first. Cliff and Frank wouldn't be getting the sacks they're getting without the attention Bennet gets. That's the life of an inside rusher.

Okay.

Bennett handled this like a professional, and I think the team responded in kind, but I have a feeling this will be the beginning of the end of his production.

It's a lot of previous precedent figuring into that, but also MB has never been shy about characterizing the NFL as just another job (and FTR, we should all be so lucky to work such a "job" for a few years), so now that he's wrung most of what he can out of this "job", would anybody be flabbergasted to see him looking into the future more than concentrating on dedicating himself to the attitude of "whatever it takes to win"?

I hope I'm wrong, but I never like seeing guys on my team signing 'I just hit the lottery' type contracts. It's a reality of professional sports, but it's almost never good for the team, and the team is all I care about.

burrrton wrote:I hope I'm wrong, but I never like seeing guys on my team signing 'I just hit the lottery' type contracts. It's a reality of professional sports, but it's almost never good for the team, and the team is all I care about.

A sobering possibility. Remember how we all were so ecstatic when Shawn Alexander signed his fat new contract?

Not everybody was excited when SA got inked and Hutchinson was let go.

Mike Bennett never gets the sack numbers one other guys do because he is a true defender not a rush specialist.
He disrupts virtually every play that is in his range.

Belichick in game super bowl 49 sound fx " the only one doing anything is #72"
Mike put on his hard hat and came to work every week and played his ass off disgruntled for years.
He deserves his money.

Of all the really big money deals by Seattle the last ten years the only one that really didn't work out was SA.

He deserves his money.

For the record, I'm not saying he doesn't.

Hawktawk wrote:Not everybody was excited when SA got inked and Hutchinson was let go.

Mike Bennett never gets the sack numbers one other guys do because he is a true defender not a rush specialist.
He disrupts virtually every play that is in his range.

Belichick in game super bowl 49 sound fx " the only one doing anything is #72"
Mike put on his hard hat and came to work every week and played his ass off disgruntled for years.
He deserves his money.

Of all the really big money deals by Seattle the last ten years the only one that really didn't work out was SA.

I understand all of that, and IMO Michael Bennett, going into this season, is the 2nd best all around DL in the league next to JJ Watt, and I'm glad that we got a deal done.

But like investing in stocks, you want to buy low and sell high, not the other way around. New England is the master of this philosophy. At his age, it's more likely than not that Bennett's best years are behind him, so there is good cause to be looking at this deal with a little bit of cautious expectations. You pay players for what you expect they can provide you in the future, not reward them for what they did you in the past.

Some DEs play effectively well into their 30s and if he stays healthy he could be one of them.
NE has dumped players before their slide on a number of occasions, as have all teams, but they also kept a few who continued to produce, so it's really a crap shoot as to when it's time to let them go.

NorthHawk wrote:Some DEs play effectively well into their 30s and if he stays healthy he could be one of them.
NE has dumped players before their slide on a number of occasions, as have all teams, but they also kept a few who continued to produce, so it's really a crap shoot as to when it's time to let them go.

There's a certain element of chance when it comes to forecasting when a player has peaked and how fast his decline will be, but I wouldn't call it a crap shoot. More like a calculated risk.

But we'll see. There's certainly reasons to be optimistic about this deal, but past experience has taught me not to go out and turn hand springs over the signing of a 31 year old player.