I'll say! The guy's stuck on an island with nothing flying. What's he supposed to do, swim to Seattle?
Branch left ugly, but he's always been a hard-working guy.
$39M deals change some players.
Strong winds grounded his scheduled helicopter departure and
extended Branch's honeymoon for two days.
"Fun. Hot. And then scary at the end, because I don't like hurricanes," the Georgia native said Monday, laughing as he recalled his honeymoon
after finally joining the Seahawks' two-week minicamp a week late.
I once worked for a guy who used to tell me I needed to take the train before the train that made me late...
"Branch was greeted by Seahawks trainers telling him it was his day to get tested for body fat. His is usually 6 or 7 percent. Monday it was 10.
"They were just hoping it wasn't 20," Branch said.
"Crazy. First day off my honeymoon, getting back in, they measure my fat," said the 5-foot-9, 193-pound Branch, who claims he ran about a mile a day on a treadmill while on St. Lucia.
Branch is taking Darrell Jackson's place as Hasselbeck's primary target this season.
Jackson, who shared a unique, unspoken understanding on the field with Hasselbeck, has been traded to San Francisco largely because the Seahawks are expecting huge production from Branch.
Hasselbeck said last week that one of the reasons he worked so fiendishly to return earlier than the team expected following surgery in January on his non-throwing shoulder was so he could begin to bond with Branch before training camp.
But Branch and his girlfriend of six years, Shola, had scheduled their wedding in Florida for this month way back in May 2006. Branch had plenty of time for planning then. He was beginning a contract holdout with the Patriots.
I know how important it is for me, not being here last year at this time," Branch said. "The main thing is just hearing the plays from Matt instead of just hearing them from the coaches."
Talk is cheap, Deion.
Branch acknowledged he has much to prove this season, but "just to myself." LOL
After arriving last September at the price of $39 million over six years plus Seattle's first-round choice in April's draft, Branch caught 53 passes with four touchdowns in 14 regular-season games as part of a crowded receiving corps -- and with a quarterback that for the first time in Branch's career wasn't Tom Brady.
Branch had 78 receptions and five scores, both career highs, during the 2005 season with Brady in New England.
"I felt I had an OK year last year -- given the position I was put in," 
he said. "I know I can do a whole lot better, given the offseason workouts with Matt, the familiarity with plays.
"I feel better in this system than I did in New England. It's more pass-oriented."
"My main thing is just to be here, getting the work in that we need. It's a whole lot, once you build that chemistry with your quarterback," Branch said. "That shows a whole lot."
Which again begs the question, why wasn't he?
Deion's like Happy Gilmore. Perhaps another sub-thousand yard season in the great northwest will finally wipe that disingenuous grin off his face. Not sure if he realizes it but this season, just like our 2006 season, isn't all about just him - Hasselback is trying to rebound from back to back injury plagued seasons with a formerly injury plagued WR corps being reshuffled like the deck chairs on Titanic, and Holmgren likely has one foot out the door if he doesn't and the presidential suite at Lambeau beckons to oversee a rebuild post Favre. A year from now there could be a new HC deciding whose checks he wants ownership to sign and whose ticket out of town gets punched.
