"Leroy admits that he made a mistake, but I had to see him -- face-to-face," Ruskell said. "There was some emotion. It was very frank and, to his credit, he was very frank, very sincere. That was why we brought him in."
Ruskell also wanted the new defensive coaches on coach Jim Mora's staff to meet with Hill and determine if his talents fit with the more aggressive style they have planned.
"We want Leroy to want to be here, and we had to hear from him, 'I want to be here,' " Ruskell said.
Hill, 26, passed all the tests to Ruskell's satisfaction.
"Had Leroy said, 'No, I'm not coming in,' we would be going down a different path right now," Ruskell said.
The Seahawks' preferred path, as it was with cornerback Marcus Trufant last year, is to use the franchise tag on Hill with the idea of signing him to a multiyear contract. Last year, talks with Trufant's agent turned contentious before he signed a six-year, $50.2 million contract in March.
"I wouldn't even say we're exactly close," Ruskell said of the negotiations with Hill's agent, Todd France. "But it's been good-faith negotiating, and this allows us to keep doing that while protecting our rights to the player."
Hill still could sign an offer sheet with another team once the free-agency period begins Feb. 27, but the Seahawks would receive two first-round draft choices as compensation if they declined to match it.
Hill, a third-round draft choice in 2005, was the team's leading tackler in 2008 before being sidelined for the final four games after suffering a stinger in a collision with Cowboys running back Marion Barber early in the Thanksgiving Day game.
Despite the setback, he finished third on the team in tackles (84) behind fellow linebackers Lofa Tatupu (94) and Julian Peterson (86).
The fact that Peterson, Tatupu and Hill are scheduled to count more than $20 million against the salary cap in 2009 was a factor in the decision to tag Hill.
