Seahawks left tackle Russell Okung hasn’t changed his mind about going into free agency as his own agent.
And his agent already knows how to butter up the home market.
Via Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune, Okung said he considered Seattle dear to him, and would love to stay.
“Seattle will always be a home to me,” Okung said. “It’s been amazing what the community has been able to do for me, and the people. This will always be a place that I’ll come back to.”
Of course, it’s unclear if that will be on his next career or at some later point. The Seahawks have plenty of free agent decisions to make, and while linebacker Bruce Irvin promised some degree of hometown discount, there’s not going to be enough money for them all.
Their list of free agents also includes wide receiver Jermaine Kearse, cornerback Jeremy Lane, punter Jon Ryan, defensive tackles Brandon Mebane and defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin, guard J.R. Sweezy, backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, running back Fred Jackson and many more.
But Okung’s the only one entering the process without an agent, and he said his mind hadn’t changed about that.
“I’m still a full head of steam on that,” he said. “I’m not the first one to do it. Hopefully I won’t be the last as well. There are a lot of guys in the past who have done it — not many who’ve done it in the prime of their career. It’s going to be a really interesting experience.”
That can be said of the Seahawks offseason in general, and fitting all those pieces in place is going to be complicated having doled out so much money already.