...and Lofa, too?

Job demands have made it hard for me to keep up with the fast and furious post-lockout free agent frenzy.

Coach Carroll and GM John Schneider continue to overhaul the roster ruthlessly.

Shortly after ditching Hasselbeck, the Great Collabor-haters jettisoned the quarterback of our defense, middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu.

They asked the undersized Samoan to take a pay cut. His contract with Seattle--negotiated shortly after his three consecutive Pro Bowls--was a generous long-term deal designed to keep him here for the rest of his career. However, in recent years, Tatupu has lost a step. Dogged by injuries, he has battled mightily just to stay on the field, but he has proved unable to perform at the high level envisioned when he and the team first inked the deal. His high football IQ compensated somewhat for his physical limitations, but the franchise has evidently determined that he will never return to form as one of the game's best defenders.

Some day, we'll learn whether the pay cut the team demanded was reasonable, or whether it was an insult calculated to force Tatupu's departure.

I hope the front office asked Lofa to accept compensation in line with his performance and appropriate to his leadership role on the team.

On the other hand, if they lowballed him to drive him from the roster, then Carroll and Schneider have made a mistake.

This isn't college ball. You can't win consistently in the NFL with a roster that turns over entirely every 4 or 5 years. Great teams commit to the careers of a few core players. Every dynasty depends on cultivating that nucleus and complementing it with more ephemeral talent. This was true of Lombardi's Packers, Noll's Steelers, Walsh's 49ers, the Cowboys of the '90s, and Belichick's Patriots. No team has ever established long-term dominance without a stable nucleus of veteran talent.

Now that Hasselbeck and Tatupu have left the building, who is our nucleus now?

Postscript: Ever sentimental, the Diehard hopes that Tatupu might yet return to us via the Babs Boomerang route. Last year, the team cut veteran defensive back Jordan Babineaux. When Big Play Babs experienced little love on the free agent market, he came back to play for Seattle at a lower rate of pay, because playing for less is better than being unemployed, and because Seattle was willing to employ him and pay him more than other teams would.