[Underdog]

Seattle Bound
Seahawks Sign Free-Agent Julius Jones to 4-Year Deal


DALLAS - One week into free agency and the inevitable has taken place.

Julius Jones' four-year career with the Dallas Cowboys is over, the 26-year-old agreeing to a free-agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks, suddenly collectors of running backs.

Jones will become the second running back the Seahawks have signed this first week of free agency, having already inked a deal earlier in the week with T.J. Duckett. And of course, the Seahawks still have veteran Shaun Alexander under contract, along with backup and third-down back Maurice Morris. Jones agreed to a four-year deal worth $12 million, the $3 million a year not a silly deal but obviously more money than the Cowboys wanted to invest in re-signing the team's leading rusher in three of the past four seasons.

The Cowboys obviously were willing to let their 2004 second-round draft choice test free agency, deciding instead to allow their four-year starter become an unrestricted free agent while committing $2.56 million on a restricted free-agency tender to reserve the right of first refusal for his backup, Marion Barber, who got his first start in the team's playoff game this past season.

Jones began making the free-agency rounds this week, first visiting Detroit on Monday and then going to Tennessee, before spending the past two days in Seattle. According to Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell, he was bound and determined to upgrade last year's anemic running attack.

If that was the case, then all Ruskell and the Seahawks coaches and scouts needed to do was pop in tapes of Jones' performances against Seattle during his career. As a rookie, Jones went for 198 yards on 30 carries and scored three touchdowns, including the last-second game winner in a 43-39 Cowboys victory at Qwest Field. Jones also scooted for a 53-yard run in that game.

Then in the 2006 playoff game in Seattle, Jones put up 122 yards on 22 carries, and had a long of 35 in the Cowboys' 21-20 first-round loss to the Seahawks.

There is some thought in Seattle the Seahawks might be ready to shed themselves of Alexander, who has been bothered by injuries the past couple of seasons. And Duckett is more of a pounder, at 6-feet, 254 pounds likely to be used mostly in short-yardage situations.

The Seahawks were not happy with their 3.8-yard per carry average this past season, their lowest since 1999. And while heading into free agency, head coach Mike Holmgren said upgrading the rushing attack was a priority.

"That is a major offseason fix," is what Holmgren told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "Now what does that mean? You're talking about scheme; you're talking about players. The whole deal. You've got to be able to run the ball in this league better than we ran it."

Jones' signing of the four-year deal with Seattle leaves the Cowboys with one running back under contract (Alonzo Coleman) and the right-of-first-refusal to one more, Barber, who they would receive a first- and third-round draft choice for if they chose not to matched a signed restricted free-agency offer sheet. They chose not to tender 2007 third running back Tyson Thompson a restricted free-agency tender, allowing him to become a free agent.

During Jones' four-year career with the Cowboys he gained 3,484 yards on 885 carries, scoring 18 touchdowns, and that was despite missing eight games his rookie season, first with a bruised rib and then with a fractured scapula, and then three more his second season with a high ankle sprain he really never fully recovered from during the season. He rushed for a single-season high seven touchdowns his rookie season.

Jones had his most productive season in 2006, despite sharing time with Barber, rushing for 1,084 yards, averaging 4.1 yards a carry and scoring four touchdowns despite giving way to Barber once the Cowboys moved inside the red zone or were in goal-line situations. That gave the former Notre Dame running back 2,896 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in his first three seasons.

But this past year was disappointing for Jones, who thought he would be more productive with the change in head coaches, a more player-friendly Wade Phillips taking over for the heavy-handed Bill Parcells, who implored Jones to hit the hole and do less freelancing. Jones, though, seemed to lose his ability to cut back, always seemingly in a hurry to hit the hole and rarely giving the play a chance to develop.

Consequently, he lost carries to Barber, who led the Cowboys with 975 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns on a team-high 204 carries. Barber went on to his first Pro Bowl despite never starting a game until the playoff loss to the Giants. Jones ended up with single-season lows of 164 carries, 588 yards and just two touchdowns.

And in Seattle now.