Clock ticking down to crucial deadline

The question isn't whether Seattle will place the franchise tag on Geno Smith by the Tuesday deadline, but whether the two sides will agree to a multi-year contract.

“We’re going to do everything we can to keep him here.”

— Pete Carroll

Those were the coach’s exact words about a starting quarterback who had reached the end of his contract. But we all remember how things turned out with Matt Hasselbeck, don’t we?

Oh, you thought I was talking about Geno Smith? I can see how you might make that assumption given the consistency of Carroll and GM John Schneider regarding their desire to keep the quarterback who – as of this moment – is scheduled to be a free agent in just over a week. But first, there’s a pretty significant deadline on Tuesday, March 7, which is the reason I brought up Hasselbeck. I’ll get back to that in just a second, but first I’m going to explain why the application of the franchise tag is the option Seattle is least likely to use.