It appears Matt Hasselbeck might be available, as reports out of Seattle have the Seahawks drafting a quarterback and eager to dump his big salary.

Joe would normally call them rumblings out of Seattle, but they are more like earthquakes.

The Seattle media has all but assured its followers over the past few days that the Seahawks will select quarterback Mark Sanchez or Matt Stafford with their No. 4 overall pick in the draft.

Of course, JoeBucsFan.com draft guru Justin Pawlowski (always ahead of the curve) had Seattle taking Sanchez in his April 2 mock draft.

That leaves Seattle’s resident Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, the 33-year-old veteran who showed up for the team’s voluntary mini-camp Tuesday healthy and raring to go. 

There is now talk of Seattle cutting Hasselbeck and his big salary and getting a fresh start under new coach Jim Mora.

[Hasselbeck] is entering the fifth year of a six-year, $47 million contract with $16 million in guarantees. His cap number is to be about $9.5 million in 2009, leading to speculation the Seahawks may cut him for financial reasons, or at least seek to renegotiate his base salaries of $5.25 million and $5.75 million for each of the final two years of his deal.

Now Bucs fans know Tampa Bay tried to dump its 2009 first round pick for Jay Cutler, and likely offered much more than that for him last week.

Would the Bucs consider trading their ’09 first round pick for Hasselbeck and, say, a second or third round pick from Seattle?

A few facts to keep in mind:

• Seahawks president Tim Ruskell is the former Bucs director of player personnel and Mark Dominik’s old running mate at One Buc Place.
• Jeff Jagodzinski was Hasselbeck’s offensive coordinator at Boston College.
• The Bucs have the cap room to accommodate Hasselbeck and they wouldn’t have to pay him a signing bonus.

Joe believes Mr. Hasselbeck — a proven winner, unlike Cutler — might just be the mysterious fourth quarterback the Bucs keep talking about signing.