How Much Is Enough?

I've pretty much had it with the Seattle Seahawks. They just keep loading up on Minnesota Vikings players. The Seahawks traded for receiver Percy Harvin to start the offseason. Now, they have added cornerback Antoine Winfield. It's not just that they have added Vikings players. It's that they have added some of my favorite Vikings players. Harvin and Winfield this year. Sidney Rice before that. Linebacker and special teams ace Heath Farwell too. Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson was in Seattle for about a year after he left Minnesota. Why can't the Seahawks sign Vikings players like Ray Edwards and Bryant McKinnie. A couple of players that are more pain in the ass than real assets. Seattle even grabbed Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell when he became available in 2010. Going further back, you can add Hall of Fame defensive linemen Carl Eller and John Randle as former Vikings that Seattle added at the end of their careers. The Seahawks dependence on Vikings players is leaning toward parasitic. When's it going to end?

Rice, Harvin, and Winfield hurt the most. Rice chased the money. Harvin forced a trade. The Vikings actually released Winfield for economic reasons. They went that route to free up some room under the salary cap to re-sign tackle Phil Loadholt as well as sign Green Bay Packers receiver Greg Jennings. Winfield's role in the Vikings defense was being reduced but he was still one of the best slot corners in the league. They wanted to bring him back at a lower contract but he obviously didn't want that. It's a damn shame.

Seattle bothers me most because of their sketchy head coach. I just don't trust Pete Carroll. He even spent some time with the Vikings in the late '80s. Seattle can keep him. Carroll left USC a step ahead of the law. Anybody that leaves a job in far worse shape than he found it can't be trusted. The mess that he left was of his making. Now that he's started his little collection of Vikings players I like him even less.

It certainly doesn't ease the pain now but I can take some enjoyment in the Vikings stealing Ahmad Rashad from the Seahawks nearly 40 years ago. Rashad had a terrific career in Minnesota. If he had spent his entire career catching passes from Fran Tarkenton he might be in the Hall of Fame. More recently, the Vikings stole guard Steve Hutchinson with the infamous "poison pill" contract. Brilliant! Seattle still hasn't recovered from that fiasco. The Seahawks bumbling then might even be the reason that the they have such a great need for Vikings players now. Who knows? Rashad could have been a Hall of Famer. Hutchinson should be a Hall of Famer.