KIRKLAND, Wash. (AP) -The Seattle Seahawks may have learned from their mistake of a year ago, designating clutch kicker Josh Brown as their franchise player on Thursday.

Unless a long-term contract can be reached, Brown will receive the one-year, $2.078 million tender offer for the 2007 season - the average of the top five paid kickers in the NFL.

Last year, the Seahawks chose not to use the franchise tag on Pro Bowl guard Steve Hutchinson. Instead, they used the transition designation on him. That move would have saved about $600,000 - but backfired when the Minnesota Vikings signed away Hutchinson with unprecedented ``poison pill'' provisions in his contract that Seattle could not feasibly match.

By designating Brown a franchise player, another team would have to surrender two first-round draft choices were they to sign him - a steep a price for a kicker.

This year's cost for a transition-tag on a punter or kicker is $1,926,000 - not enough of a savings for Seattle to risk losing Brown to another, Hutchinson-like contract from someone else.

Brown won four games this past season with kicks in the final seconds, and some of his teammates called him their team's MVP last season.

``We are excited that Josh will remain a Seahawk,'' Seahawks general manager Tim Ruskell said. ``We will continue to talk with his representative in hopes of securing a long-term deal which is our goal.''

Calls to Brown's agent, Robert Roche, weren't immediately returned.

While using the franchise tag on kickers is rare, it's the cheapest of all positions. Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri was tagged twice while with the New England Patriots.

Brown was 25 for 31 on field goal attempts during the regular season and won games against St. Louis twice, Detroit and hit a 50-yarder on the final play of a 23-20 win at Denver. Over the past two seasons, Brown has six game-winning kicks.

The seventh-round pick of the Seahawks in 2003 has made 79 percent of his career kicks. He was fourth in All-Pro voting this past season.

By using their lone franchise player tag on brown, the Seahawks are prepared to possibly losing tight end Jerramy Stevens, safety Ken Hamlin and guard Chris Gray to free agency - unless they sign them to new contracts before March 2. All were starters last season.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.