Packers backup QB Matt Flynn signs with Seattle

Matt Flynn signed with Seattle on Sunday and will get a chance to become the Seahawks' starting quarterback this fall.

Flynn, who backed up Aaron Rodgers for four years in Green Bay, signed a three-year free agent contract worth a reported $26 million. Ten million is guaranteed.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Flynn would compete with Tarvaris Jackson as Seattle's top signal-caller.

Miami was reported to have the inside track on signing Flynn, mainly because of his ties to Dolphins head coach and former Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin.

The Dolphins focused yesterday on San Francisco free agent quarterback Alex Smith, which opened the door for the Seahawks.

Seattle General Manager John Schneider was part of the Green Bay front office that drafted the 26-year-old Flynn in 2008.

He has completed 82 of 132 passes in regular season Packers’ games for 1,015 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions.

He passed for 480 yards and six scores against Detroit on New Year’s Day.

Meanwhile, it does not appear that the Packers will be awarded a third-round compensatory pick next year for losing Flynn. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says it takes at least a five-year, $35-to-$40-million offer for the league to award a pick that high.

Most of the formula that determines compensatory picks apparently involves the contract value of the player who's leaving, and not as much on how that player performs for his new club the next season.

Driver dances tonight

“Dancing With the Stars” always gets high ratings. Packer fans could give the show even higher ratings beginning tonight. That’s because Donald Driver, Green Bay’s all-time leading receiver, is among the contestants.

The four-time Pro Bowler and is part of a celebrity cast that includes Melissa Gilbert, actor Jack Wagner, singing great Gladys Knight and tennis legend Martina Navratilova.

Driver’s partner is Peta Murgatroyd. She says Driver’s years of stutter-stepping on the football field will help him in the ballroom.

Driver figures that he spends five hours a day in dancing, plus a football workout. He said he talked with Packers Coach Mike McCarthy before agreeing to do the show and McCarthy told him he should “try to win the whole thing.”

He promised his teammates he would not be eliminated in the first round. That’s what happened a year ago to Lakers basketball player Metta World Peace, the former Ron Artest.

NFL stars Hines Ward and Emmitt Smith have won the “Dancing With the Stars” trophy in the past. The two-hour live season premiere begins at 7 p.m. Monday, March 19, on ABC.

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