"He had this beautiful watch on, and we were talking to him about making a trip to Minnesota," said Mora, pointing to Houshmandzadeh's sparkling watch. "And I said, 'You know what, I respect you as a man and I think you should honor your commitment to going to Minnesota, but before you go you need to take that watch off and leave it as collateral.'"

Laughter followed from the crowd, but Mora was serious.

And Houshmandzadeh didn't hesitate, handing over his glistening Breitling watch, worth thousands of dollars.

"I didn't think about it," he said. "I just took it off."

Houshmandzadeh said he got the watch back about 20 minutes before the press conference introducing him as the Seahawks' newest receiver.

Said Mora: "Had he chose to go to Minnesota, I certainly would have gladly mailed it to him. But I'm glad he was able to come back and pick it up in person."

--General manager Tim Ruskell addressed the Michael Crabtree situation, with the Texas Tech receiver opting for surgery on his cracked foot and not running in the pro day.

"There's a few players in this draft that aren't going to be able to run because of injury," He said. "We just want that last, little piece, especially on a junior or sophomore who's coming out, and you don't have everything on him anyway. They are late to the process. So we'll have to weigh that, in terms of well, 'What does that mean to you?' But that's disappointing, but there's nothing you can do about that."

--Ruskell confirmed that Colin Cole will be more of a nose guard or 1-technique guy in Seattle's revamped, 4-3 scheme, while Brandon Mebane will play more of the pass-rushing role of 3-technique. Ruskell said the way assistant head coach/defensive line coach Dan Quinn uses his defensive line, there will be less shifting up front and guys will be more anchored, so Cole won't shift as much to a 3-technique like the team's John Marshall-led defenses did last year.

He compared Cole to a bigger version of ex-Seahawks Chuck Darby. "He has that kind of quickness and he's a very intelligent guy," Ruskell said. "Very much instinctive about the run game."

Ruskell also said that expectations are high for second-year defensive tackle Red Bryant, and that he offers versatility in that he can fill both roles as a pass rusher and run stuffer. Craig Terrell fills out the rotation at defensive tackle right now, with unrestricted free agent Howard Green unsigned.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I can't say that it's actually sunk in yet. I can say that, man, it is a great feeling to see my name go across the ticker on ESPN and be like, 'You know what? That's me! I have solidified another step in my career.'" -- DT Colin Cole, commenting on the realization he has signed a lucrative contract with Seattle.