The Seahawks have made a lot of noise about an open quarterback competition, but plenty of people have been taking that with a grain of salt.
Generally speaking, teams don’t spend $10 million in guaranteed money for a player who isn’t clearly better than Tarvaris Jackson. That’s what the Seahawks gave Matt Flynn and that’s why most people have felt safe assuming that Flynn would eventually be the starting quarterback. If this derby is going to be decided only by on-field merits, though, that might not happen.
Wide receiver Doug Baldwin told Liz Mathews of ESPN 710 Seattle that it is hard to see any distance between Flynn and Jackson after the team’s OTAs. Rookie Russell Wilson has also been mentioned as part of a three-way dance for the quarterback spot, but Baldwin didn’t put the unlikeliest candidate into the mix with the two veterans.
Baldwin also told Mathews that the battle isn’t as clear-cut as people think, which some people would read as a bad sign for Flynn. This is the period when Jackson should have an advantage, though. He’s the incumbent and working on familiar ground while Flynn figures things out on his new team. By training camp, Flynn will have closed some of that gap. If he’s still tied or behind at that point, that’s worth a little more worry about the investment.