From Seattle To Washington

"I thought he was great for us. He's another one, guys I would have liked to have kept," he said. "I talked to Phillip after our game in Washington, and he was a young player, just starting out, and we had a lot of money tied up in our defensive line and we couldn't do what we wanted to do with him salary-wise and he went to the Bears. Boy, I wanted to keep him, but we couldn't. He's played in Washington as well as I've seen him. He's a solid, solid football player."

Yet when Daniels thinks about that final year in Seattle -- the elation of making the playoffs, of being part of a strong defensive line -- the joy of realizing his talent is tempered by the difference between the millions the Seahawks offered to keep him, and the millions more that awaited him in Chicago.

"If they had come up a million or two, I probably would have stayed," he said. But Daniels also saw the business side at work. His teammate on the line, Adams, also left that same offseason, signing a free agent deal with Baltimore, and winning a Super Bowl that year. It was in Seattle, Daniels said, where he learned the hard way that the childhood dream of playing professional football for one team and navigating through the unforgiving world of a billion-dollar industry can lead to a nasty collision.

"I had to realize this was a business and it was time to move on," Daniels said. "We could have done some special things keeping that group together. Sam left the same year I did. I don't think anyone ever expected me to have the kind of year I had. I had to go out there and find the contract I got. But it was out there for me and I ended up going to Chicago."

Springs was different. Unlike Daniels, Springs is not on a hot streak, nursing a groin injury that forced him to miss last week's playoff victory over Tampa Bay. After starting each game he played during his first four seasons, he only started 30 of 48 games in his final three years in Seattle, and is particularly sensitive to the idea that injuries had gnawed away at his talents. He seems to be especially proud of his first two years in Washington, where he started 30 of 32 games, and has only missed three overall.

"When I got here, Shawn was one of the more gifted athletes I've ever seen play that position. He was really special. He was an upbeat guy, and helped me a lot," Holmgren said. "Then he went through a series of nagging injuries here. He had signed a contract before I got here, a fairly long one, and he and his representatives were disappointed at not being able to redo another contract when he was here. I would have loved to keep Shawn Springs, but he was offered a wonderful deal by the Redskins."

Springs has never denied a rift with Holmgren, except to say that "it was never as bad as it was made out to be." Still, Holmgren and Springs appear to have emerged with respect for one another.

"We clashed," Springs said. "Sometimes we had our differences, but the one thing we had in common was that we both wanted to win. I think he knew I cared and how much I wanted to win, my desire to win. He won't ever argue that."