Sherman opens up about why he defected
Pro-bowl CB seeks vengeance on ’Hawks
SANTA CLARA – One soundbite might be all it takes for Richard Sherman to win over any 49ers fans he offended in his past Seattle Seahawks life.
Sherman confirmed a driving factor in signing with the 49ers – aside from Jimmy Garoppolo’s “inspiring” presence, coach Kyle Shanahan’s “innovative” mind and a familiar defensive scheme – is to seek vengeance on the Seahawks.
“I’m going to try my best to ruin their day,” Sherman said Monday. “I want a chance to show what I can do.”
While a poor connection with background noise garbled his media conference call, Sherman voiced no frustration. Instead he offered explanatory and pensive answers, from extolling the virtues of Jimmy Garoppolo to meaning no disrespect for a Thanksgiving 2014 turkey dinner on the 50-yard line after humiliating the host 49ers.
“(NBC producers) were like, ‘Eat the turkey,’ ” Sherman recalled. “You’re excited after the game. You’re winning. We weren’t thinking anything else. Honestly we were just enjoying the moment. We played pretty well that game.
“I honestly didn’t think it was disrespectful. But people can take it any way they want to.”
His decibels may never roar as high as after he ruined the 2013 49ers’ Super Bowl hopes in Seattle. And he’s more articulate and poignant than people realize, or perhaps more than 49ers fans were willing to accept the past seven years.
So when Sherman speaks, people listen, and that is something the 49ers will have to adjust to in a locker room that grew admirably tight amid last season’s adversity (0-9 start) and eventual triumph (5-0 finish).
Garoppolo fueled that closing act, and with him locked in last month on a Nflrecord contract, his presence helped lure Sherman,
Sherman saw more to the 49ers than Garoppolo. He’s familiar with the defensive scheme and the coordinator running
it, Robert Saleh, a former Seahawks assistant who joined Sherman, Sherman’s fiancee Ashley and coach Kyle Shanahan at Friday night’s recruitment dinner in Los Gatos.
As much as he raved about Shanahan’s coaching credentials and a familiarity general manager John Lynch (fellow Stanford graduate), Sherman wanted to keep his family on the West Coast.
Released Friday with a failed physical designation, Sherman met only with the 49ers, and after hammering out his own deal over a five-hour session with contract czar Paraag Marathe, Sherman gave the Seahawks a chance to match it, and he also gauged the interest of the Raiders and Detroit Lions.
Sherman agreed to the incentive-laden deal on Saturday and signed that contract Sunday. It gives him only a $3 million signing bonus, but another $2 million if he’s medically cleared come training camp as well as a $2 million base salary for 2018.