SEATTLE (AP) -Charlie Frye is coming to the Seattle Seahawks, he just won’t be taking a job away from Matt Hasselbeck or Seneca Wallace.
Frye was acquired from the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday, but not because they wanted him to be a primary backup to starting quarterback Hasselbeck. It was because Frye was one of the few veterans available who might fit Seattle’s needs for roster depth.
Wallace will stay as the No. 2 quarterback and Frye will be third-string when he reports to the Seahawks on Wednesday, general manager Tim Ruskell emphasized.
“This is not about replacing Seneca,” Ruskell said of the dynamic, fifth-year veteran who went 2-2 in his first NFL starts last fall, after Hasselbeck missed a month with a sprained knee.
There are reasons Frye was available, the same reasons why he will be initially be buried on Seattle’s depth chart and run the scout team offense. He was 6-13 as Cleveland’s starter, and he was 4-of-10 for 34 yards with an interception – a QB rating of 10.0 – while getting sacked five times during Cleveland’s 34-7 loss to Pittsburgh at home Sunday before coach Romeo Crennel benched him.
“It’s not like there was a big pool out there,” Ruskell said.
He said the Seahawks liked Frye when he came out of Akron three years ago but that there was “nothing that was outrageously special” about his skills.
Cleveland’s trade of Frye is unprecedented. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he’s the first quarterback since the NFL/AFL merger in 1970 to start his team’s season opener and be traded before Week 2.
Ruskell also traded deposed starting defensive end Bryce Fisher to Tennessee on Tuesday for a 2008 draft pick. Ruskell said that pick is comparable to the sixth-round selection Seattle sent to Cleveland for Frye.
Ruskell said the deal for Frye was also not about Wallace moving into the rotation of wide receivers soon with starter D.J. Hackett out indefinitely with a high ankle sprain – even though coach Mike Holmgren said on Monday while discussing who will move up the wideout chain that “My ace in the hole is Seneca Wallace.”
“Mike has to see Charlie (practice) first. To think that is going to happen right away would not be accurate,” Ruskell said of Wallace doing more work at receiver. Wallace had a reception in each of the last two postseasons.
The Seahawks are happy with Ben Obomanu, a seventh-round pick in 2006. He will likely make his season debut Sunday at Arizona after missing the season opener because of a hamstring injury.
Seattle sought Ken Dorsey, who signed with Cleveland on Tuesday. But Ruskell said that after Frye flopped Sunday, the Browns immediately intensified their efforts to sign him. That left Frye unexpectedly available.
“I don’t know if the situation ever came on for him in Cleveland,” Ruskell said. “They were always changing (offensive) coordinators.”
Fisher, 30, became expendable after the faster Darryl Tapp took his starting job last month and rookie Baraka Atkins, a fourth-round pick, emerged more quickly than expected. Plus, the Seahawks traded last week for undersized, quick end Jason Babin, a former No. 1 draft choice of the Houston Texans.
Tapp, a second-round pick in 2006, and Patrick Kerney, signed from Atlanta for $19.5 million guaranteed before the season, each had 1 1/2 sacks in the season-opening win over Tampa Bay. Babin, still learning the defense, was inactive for the opener.
Fisher barely played and had no tackles.
ll in our system and add to the depth that we are building in the defensive line.”
His agent said the former active-duty Air Force officer, now in the reserves, and graduate of the Air Force Academy wasn’t bitter about his hometown team trading him.
“He understands the business of pro football,” Peter Schaffer said. “He’s excited about this next chapter in his career, and he has fond memories of the greatest period of his NFL career, which included starting in the Super Bowl.”
Fisher made 36 regular-season and postseason starts from 2005-06, including the Super Bowl two seasons ago. His sacks went from a career-high nine in ’05 to four last season.
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AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.
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