I love the Matt Flynn signing by the Seattle Seahawks

On Sunday the Seattle Seahawks agreed to terms with free agent quarterback Matt Flynn on a 3-year $26 million dollar deal with $10 million guaranteed. This represents the largest invested the current Seahawks front office has made on the quarterback position.

In my free agency preview piece on the quarterbacks I had him in the Love’ em section and this is what I had to say.

Matt Flynn is 26 years old with 4 years experience and a 62.1% completion rate.

Matt has thrown 9 touchdowns and 5 interceptions (1.8:1 TD:INT ratio) while throwing for just over 1,000 yards in 34 games.

The 34 games is not very indicative of actual playing time. There have only been a few games where he went out and ran the offense.

I trust John Schneider knows this kid well enough to make the right call here. If we see the Seahawks make a serious push for him I believe it is possible this is the quarterback of the future for the Seahawks.”

You may or may not remember when I was adamant that the Seahawks not go after Kevin Kolb last off season. One of the biggest reasons was because he had a great supporting cast in Philadelphia yet had only played at a mediocre level.

Matt Flynn had a great supporting cast in Green Bay but he played up to their level and the team did not skip a beat when he filled in for Aaron Rodgers.

Matt has 2 starts in his career 1 last season and 1 in 2010. Last year it was a week 17 win against the Detroit Lions. Flynn went 31 for 44 with 480-yards (GB single game record) 6 touchdowns and an interception.

In Matt’s first start (week 15 of 2010) against New England in a loss where he was 24 for 37 with 251-yards 3 touchdowns and an interception.

In the two games as a starter, before Seattle signed him to a free agent contract costing them $10 million guaranteed, Flynn was 55 for 81 (67.9%) 731-yards (365.5/game) with 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions (4.5:1 ratio).

Kevin Kolb had started 7 games before Arizona gave up a Pro Bowl corner back, a second round draft pick, and $12 million guaranteed with another $9 million in roster bonuses his 2nd and 3rd year.

Pete Carroll & Matt Flynn - (Photo Credit / US Presswire)

Kevin was 143 for 264 (54.2%) 1,891-yards (270/game) 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions (1.1:1 ratio)

I don’t know which of the two will end up having a better career but to me, when you consider the resume before acquisition, the Seahawks risked a lot less than the Cardinals did on Kolb for a player who looks to have more upside.

Earlier today on twitter someone created a fake account that some of the Seahawks players fell for. Golden Tate was one (tweet below) and Doug Baldwin was as well but he has since deleted his tweet to the fake account.

Golden Tate Tweeted

Congrats to @matthewflynn15 excited to have u on the squad , now let’s go to work and win this NFC west!

— Golden Tate (@ShowtimeTate) March 18, 2012

Doug Baldwin Tweeted

Flynn wants 15 so I’ll be changing to 89! Sounds good to me!

— Doug Baldwin Jr (@Dbfresh_89) March 18, 2012

Just got off the phone with Matt Flynn. And he’s ready to WIN!!

— Doug Baldwin Jr (@Dbfresh_89) March 18, 2012

They won’t come out publicly and say anything against Tarvaris Jackson but you know it has to be frustrating to run a great route, beat your man and watch your quarterback pump fake 85 times take a sack and never look in your direction.

Pete Carroll can say there is an open competition all he wants but Matt is not being brought in as anything but the starter. They did not give more money to him than Tarvaris Jackson makes to have him sitting on the bench watching Tarvaris struggle to read a defense and miss wide open receivers.

The starting quarterback position is Flynn’s to lose now. When training camp opens he will be taking first string snaps soon if not immediately. He will start the pre-season games and he will be the starter on Sunday barring injury or a complete meltdown.

Signing Flynn allows the Seahawks to draft a player like South Carolina’s Melvin Ingram in the first round as opposed to scrambling for a quarterback and drafting one way higher then they should be drafted.

I cannot say it often enough but having options keeps teams from making huge mistakes caused by panicking.

If the Seahawks can fill one of the starting linebacker positions and possibly get a backup running back I will be feeling great heading into the draft this year.

© Brett Bivens for North West Sports Beat, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |

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