Guard Mike Wahle, who was cut by Carolina earlier this week, signed a multi-year contract with the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday.
He was released for salary-cap reasons on Monday. Wahle began his career in Green Bay under Mike Holmgren in 1998. Holmgren is in his final year as Seahawks coach. Wahle figures to compete for the starting left guard spot with third-year pro Rob Sims. On Thursday, Wahle spent time with “the Afternoon Blitz” on Sirius Radio. Here’s some of what he had to say:
On being released by the Panthers: “We saw it coming from a ways away to be honest with you. We had kind of started pushing money back a couple of years ago and figured it might come to a head this year with the size of the salary cap. With the direction that both sides want to head in I thought this was advantageous for both sides. I thought I had a good talk with Foxy and wished him the best of luck. I know they just re-signed [tackle] Travelle Wharton there. I just had a talk with him. He's real excited. Like I said I think the future is bright for both parties."
On the Panthers not meeting expectations in 2007 and 2008 due to injuries: “Yeah, that's definitely a fair statement. You look at the team, you never want to use injuries as an excuse but I think that is a reality at some point. We did have a lot of in juries the last two years, particularly losing your QB a couple of games into the season this year. That was huge for us. We weren't really prepared, I don't think, to deal with that loss. We were putting in a new offense. We had a lot of different things going on and having the QB as a source of stability was very important to us. I don't think as a team we reacted well in a number of difficult situations. I think you're going to see a lot of changes there and that's a big part of the reason."
On signing with Seattle: “Itell you what, Seattle is at the very top of a very short list of teams I was interested in going in and playing for. It couldn't have worked out better. I couldn't have scripted it any better. They're a class organization and when you come up here and you talk to these guys you get a chance to not only talk to the administration and the coaching staff, you get to talk to some of the players. It really made all the difference in the world. Being familiar with the offense is certainly very helpful. There's going to be some changes. Obviously, Mike Solari is coming in to coach the offensive line. I'm real excited about working with him and we're going to make some good things happen this year.”