Seahawks Say That Krieg Is the Future

SEATTLE —  The Seattle Seahawks have decided that Dave Krieg is their quarterback of the present--and the future.

“We think that David Krieg in our last five games was an outstanding quarterback,” President Mike McCormack said Wednesday.

With Krieg compiling a 132.2 quarterback rating, the Seahawks won their last five games of the 1986 regular season to finish with a 10-6 record but missed making the playoffs.

The seven-year veteran finished third among NFL passers with a 91.0 rating after being benched for two games by Coach Chuck Knox midway through the season. Krieg lost his job to backup Gale Gilbert because of poor play.

The Seahawks walloped AFC champion Denver, 41-16, in their regular-season finale in the Kingdome on Dec. 20.

“David Krieg is now more confident in his own ability,” McCormack told a meeting with reporters. “He’s just more sure of himself. I think he exhibited that in that five-game span.”

The Seahawks general manager admitted that Krieg’s future was the subject of an internal club discussion at the end of the season and that Krieg’s past inconsistencies were discussed.

“I think it’s pretty much decided in the positive,” McCormack said of Krieg’s future. “We’re basing it on his record. He has not been a bad quarterback with a good surrounding cast.

“You bet we’re concerned about it (Krieg’s up-and-down record). But at the same time you’ve got to look around and see who is there who could potentially be better.”

The Seahawks will pick 18th in the NFL draft on April 28.

McCormack said it would be virtually impossible for the team to package a trade with either Tampa Bay or Indianapolis, the top two teams drafting, in a bid to get into position to get Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde, University of Miami’s All-America quarterback.

“I think Vinny Testaverde is out of our price range and I don’t mean salary dollars,” he said.

McCormack said he expected veteran strong safety Ken Easley, who finished the season on the injured reserve list because of ankle surgery, to come back stronger than ever next season.

He said Easley was playing racquetball and had dropped 10 pounds since last year.

The Seahawks are not contemplating a major trade involving Easley, who was voted 1984 NFL Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press.

In other developments:

--The Seahawks announced they have signed five veteran free agents, including defensive back Matt Johnson, who was a third-round draft choice of the San Diego Chargers last year.

The others were linebackers Gerald Taylor and Filipo Mokofisi, offensive lineman Grant Feasel and punter Tom McCarthy.

“We’ve got some others who have agreed, but we’re not going to announce them until their contracts are back in hand,” said McCormack. “These are players who we feel have a chance to make our club.”

McCormack pointed out that the Seahawks had 12 free-agent starters at the end of the 1986 season.

--McCormack said the Seahawks would vote against television instant replay to help officials again in 1987 unless the instant replay system could be improved. The NFL meetings are set to begin in Hawaii on March 16.

“There’s just a lot of questions that need to be answered,” he said.

McCormack said the Seahawks wanted to see only 20 seconds for a TV replay decision to be made instead of the three to five minutes it took last season.

--The Seahawks have signed agreements on 10 of 48 new luxury boxes in the Kingdome, according to McCormack. The boxes will be ready for occupancy in March of 1988 and will be used by both Seahawks’ fans and fans of the American League Seattle Mariners.

“It is going a lot slower than we thought,” he said.

The 10- to 12-seat boxes are going for $50,000 to $80,000 per season with three-to five-year lease agreements.

--McCormack thinks “it’s going to be a slow process” signing the Seahawks’ 23 veteran free agents because of the contract negotiations between the NFL owners and the players’ association.

“I think a lot of them are waiting to see where the TV contract is, too,” he said.

--McCormack doesn’t think there will be a strike by NFL players this season although he said the owners were adamant against free agency and guaranteed contracts, two items the players have said they want.

“I think reason will prevail,” he said. “I think there’s going to be enough give on both sides where we can avoid it.”

The NFL players went on strike in 1982, and McCormack said the memory of that strike would help convince the players and the owners to hammer out a new agreement.