It didn't take longer for superstar cornerback Richard Sherman to find a new home after his release from the Seattle Seahawks, quickly signing with the rival San Francisco 49ers.
Seahawks fans haven't taken Sherman's decision well for the most part, but as he pointed out in a recent piece for The Player's Tribune, Seattle's brass had an opportunity to match San Francisco's offer and declined.
When John Schneider told me that Seattle was going to release me, he asked me to bring any contract offer I got from another team back to him so that the Seahawks could have an opportunity to match it. I told him I would. So when the 49ers and I struck a deal, I immediately stepped out of the room and called John.
I gave the Seahawks an opportunity to match.
They didn’t.
In his lengthy piece, Sherman addressed a number of other murmurs in the media regarding the whole process and the deal he negotiated himself with the Niners. Opposed to previous reports, Sherman claims that Seattle never asked him to take a pay cut. Rather than negotiate, they simply told him he'd be released.
Within minutes, John Lynch and the 49ers reached out, which he appreciated because it signaled that they valued his abilities. Sherman said he consulted with the union and reviewed a number of past contracts for players in similar situations before working out his largely incentive-based deal with San Francisco. He's relishing the opportunity to return to his old form and meet all of those bonuses that could net him $13 million in 2018.
While Sherman admitted that he's looking forward to playing the Seahawks twice a season, he maintained that Seattle is still his home and that he intends to remain a member of the community. Of course, that's a tough pill to swallow for Hawks fans who'll watch him suit up in scarlet and gold come fall.
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