Much remains to be played out, but Tuesday may be the day the Seahawks began proving wrong the skeptics who believed that Russell Wilson's mammoth contract extension wrote them off the list of serious Super Bowl contenders.

If the club's plan works, and you're a 12, don't forget to tip your bird helmet to Andy Reid.

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The first round is hardly everything. But it is the single biggest thing in the NFL draft. And it's one thing the Seahawks haven't done very well during the otherwise highly successful tenures of coach Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider.

The Seahawks are scheduled to pick 21st in the first round Thursday. Even the shyest snow leopard at the Woodland Park Zoo is aware that Seattle wants to trade down to acquire more picks, because at the moment they have four, fewest in the NFL and in club history. It's a result of borrowing against the future, a draft principle Schneider was loathe to violate, but did so anyway.

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The Seahawks had better be good, because late next season, they're in for a long-term national closeup. Four games in a row, wrapped around a Week 11 bye, will be in prime-time. Since the Seahawks have a league-best 26-5-1 in the big shows, the pressure figures to be manageable.

At least now they have the game's leading man, the handsomely compensated Russell Wilson.

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John Schneider was on the phone with owner Paul Allen in April 2012, just after the Seahawks in the third round of the NFL draft selected Russell Wilson, a highly successful but vertically challenged college quarterback.

"So you took the little guy, huh?" Schneider recalled Allen saying.

"‘Yeah, I did. I did, Paul. We did. We did. Uh, yeah."

Allen hung up. Schneider handed the phone to coach Pete Carroll.

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From the perspective of successful football business, here's the best thing about the Russell Wilson contract extension:  He's the main reason the Seahawks have a +269 point differential in the fourth quarter since 2012, best in the NFL.

Best thing about the deal from fans' perspective: They are spared from the specter of Wilson playing on what amounts to a series of three consecutive one-year contracts (this season plus two via franchise tags) that would have kept 12s in tinfoil hats, speculating conspiratorially whether Wilson's play choices or decisions to avoid contact were "business decisions" to save himself or to improve his personal stats at the expense of the team's best interests.

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Sweep your eyes across the Seattle spring sports landscape, and prepare to have them spinning spirals. Not long after the Washington Huskies won a game in the NCAA men's basketball tourney for the first time since the Great Permian Die-Off, the Mariners and Sounders started seasons nearly spotlessly, while the Seahawks in their off-season are running scared.

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Finally, we can officially engage in the the biggest Seattle sports story of 2019 -- the football future of Russell Wilson.

Perhaps you thought the biggest story was the Huskies making the NCAA men's basketball tournament for what seems like the first time since Marv Harshman had dark hair. Or what the KeyArena roof will do floating above Seattle Center in a windstorm. Or the Mariners becoming the most accidental good team in MLB history.

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The Seahawks' latest free-agent signings include a couple of relative old-schoolers who combined to play only 15 games last season. Brought back was LB K.J. Wright and brought in was LG Mike Iupati, both of whom had injuries sufficient to have their hires bear question marks.

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Good thing Earl Thomas didn't retire when he first thought about it.

After breaking his leg in a December 2016 home game against Carolina, the Seahawks' all-world free safety startle-tweeted from the halftime locker room:

"This game has been so good to me no regrets. A lot is running through my mind including retirement thanks for all the prayers."

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The Seahawks' personnel plan for 2019 took an early hit Tuesday with word from NFL.com that LG J.R. Sweezy has agreed to a two-year deal with the Arizona Cardinals, making him the second starter lost before NFL free agency begins officially at 1 p.m. Wednesday. Over the weekend, nickel CB Justin Coleman was reported to have agreed to sign a four-year deal worth up to $36 million with the Detroit Lions.

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In several ways, Earl Thomas is a unique player -- the best combination of speed and strength at the free safety position, enhanced by a commitment to study that makes him even more formidable on the field. His nine seasons of intense achievement as a Seahawk have made him, when the day comes, a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Also: He has no filter.

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When last we saw the Seahawks, the defense had just given up to the Dallas Cowboys 380 yards and 24 points, including 130 yards in two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. So no, DE Frank Clark -- who along with LB Bobby Wagner, were Seattle's only game-changing defenders -- was not going anywhere this off-season.

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The single biggest asset for the Seahawks over the past 20 years was not Pete Carroll. Nor Mike Holmgren. Nor Tod Leiweke. Nor the 12s. Nor John Schneider. Nor Russell Wilson. Nor the Clink.

The biggest asset was franchise ownership by Paul Allen, whose stability, wealth and wisdom to know what he didn't know, was the most important element in the Seahawks' success and prosperity.

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The settlement between the NFL and its player-antagonists Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid was remarkable on several counts, not the least of which was the underappreciated fact that it was tie. As we all know, Americans don't do anti-climaxes well; our lives are pathetically full of them, so please don't inject them into sports or the conclusion of The Sopranos.

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Recall in September that when the points piled up in most outposts of the NFL, everyone was convinced that next-gen offenses had arrived, with 70-percent passers, hyperkinetic pre-snap motion and short-pass orgies. Defense and the running game were quaint but uncool relics.

Then in the season's championship moment, Fred Flintstone clubbed the crap out of George Jetson.

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Cliff Avril was in an exhibition game during his rookie season with the Detroit Lions when he realized he didn't know his responsibility for the play just called. Before lining up, he quickly asked a veteran defensive-line teammate for help. Instead of helping, the teammate told him to do the opposite of the call.

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After what must be recognized as the most entertaining championship Sunday in NFL history, the sporting nation is left not with the afterglow of a great meal/sex/national park visit/drawing to a full house, but with the prospect of another Super Bowl appearance by the New England Patriots.

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The Seahawks have added another former first-round draft pick. At quarterback.

No, not Rick Mirer or Dan McGwire. But as with those two long-ago Seahawks first-round busts, Paxton Lynch didn't play last season either.

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As we all know, Russell Wilson says something original about as often as the Mariners succeed with a high draft pick. But late in the season, the Seahawks quarterback did offer up something I hadn't recalled hearing from him, which may bode well for his future in Seattle (and perhaps might be a rare good omen for the Mariners).

"I just want to be known as the greatest winner ever," he said.

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In a parity-driven season that suggested much competitive balance, the first eight games  of the NFL post-season had a disappointing number of dominant outcomes. If blowouts were wanted this month, we could have looked up online our 401Ks.

However, the Seahawks' one-and-done appearance in the tournament was at least competitive, and  provided a chance the past weekend to look around to see what's working in the NFL.

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