Steve Hutchinson, Twitter and the Seahawks poison pill

Posted by Danny O'Neil

Steve Hutchinson aka @PoisonPill76 on Twitter

Can we laugh?

It has been seven years since that fateful contract negotiation that saw Steve Hutchinson pried out of Seattle with the crowbar of a seven-year, $49 million offer sheet engineered to make it tough for the Seahawks to match it.

Hutchinson — who played for Tennessee last season after six seasons in Minnesota — has a new Twitter name: @PoisonPill76. It’s a reference to an element in Minnesota’s offer sheet that required the total amount of the $49 contract to be fully guaranteed if Hutchinson was not the highest-paid offensive lineman on the roster at the time the offer sheet was signed. He was the highest-paid in Minnesota, but not in Seattle, which had Walter Jones.

The Seahawks cried foul, the fans fumed and Hutchinson left after some fairly hard feelings.

It’s worth remembering, though: Minnesota offered Hutchinson the contract that Seattle wouldn’t prior to free agency. And when the Vikings ponied up the offer Hutchinson sought, he wasn’t all that concerned that it included a provision designed to discourage Seattle from matching it. After all, the Seahawks had their chance to give him that contract offer and had opted not to.

But all this is history. Seven years later, I found the Twitter handle amusing. How about you?

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