Nate Burleson: We Hardly Knew Ye

Today, the Detroit Lions signed former Seahawk WR Nate Burleson to a 5 year, $25 million dollar contract with an $11 million dollar signing bonus.

First off, this pains me to say, but Detroit’s offense is more advanced than Seattle’s.  Matt Stafford is going to be really good, Calvin Johnson is not human and does things that are unpossible, and Kevin Smith is a very good RB.  Having said that, really Detroit?  You just gave him $25 million?  Eeeesh.  Have fun with that.

I would have liked to re-sign Burleson, who is from Seattle and attended O’Dea High School, to a 4 or 5 year deal worth about 3-4 million per year.  So I guess they didn’t overpay tremendously, but I’d have offered 4 years, $13 million with a signing bonus in the $5 million dollar range and called it a day.  If he takes it, great.  If he doesn’t, well, tip of the cap to you sir, and I wish you good luck on all of your future endeavors.

He took the better deal and the better offense.  I can’t fault him at all and have no qualms with him leaving.  Good luck, Nate.  I hope you succeed in MoTown.  Now let’s just get rid of Deon Branch so we can continue to cleanse ourselves of Ruskell.

As far as the Seahawks go, I really would love to sign Houston CB Dunta Robinson. 

First, Marcus Trufant isn’t that good.  He’s a solid #2 corner, but his one good season — in a contract year, no less — doesn’t mean he’s one of the best corners in the NFL.  That’s really hard for me to say, considering where Marcus went to school, but hey, it’s the truth.  Kelly Jennings is just awful, Josh Wilson is more suited for nickel and dime packages, Jordan Babineaux is probably more of a safety than a back up corner, and Ken Lucas…well, he’s Ken Lucas.  So, um, yeah.  Go overpay Robinson.  I’m ok with overpaying him.  He’s good.

Julius Peppers would be nice, but only if it were for a 4 or 5 year deal. 

He’s going to make some ridiculous amount of money and probably wind up the highest paid defensive player in NFL history.  But he’s 30 years old, so I have some reservations about signing him to something super long-term.  Having said that, Julius Peppers is a god-damned freak of nature and I’d be absolutely thrilled if we added him.  So memo to Paul Allen:  you’re probably going to die soon, so might as well spend that money on the Seahawks.  Since, you know, you never donate to the college you dropped out of.  (Jerk)

EDIT:  Dunta Robinson signed a 6 year deal with the Atlanta Falcons, and Julius Peppers signed a 6 year deal with the Chicago Bears.  So, yeah.  Fuck.