Seattle has always positioned itself as player-oriented.
Carroll is supposedly a 'players coach'. It is one of the few reasons to come here because he is not a tactical or strategic master like some.
When you are competing for FAs, sometimes it comes down to a decision - a FA is on the fence between 1 -3 teams. Little things push you over the edge vs the competition. One of our things is supposedly how we treat our players.
So yes, stuff like this matters. Because it shows we don't actually have that advantage, which means someone on the fence that would have been pushed to our side will now rethink it.
Remember when we won so many UDFAs over other teams because we had a reputation that no matter what slot you were drafted, you could earn a spot? Even against veterans if you outplayed them>? Notice we no longer win those ? Because it became clear that the whole 'Always Compete' thing was no longer in effect anymore.
And we started losing those fights for sought after UDFAs. Well, now we are making it harder for us to sign FAs that are torn between us and another team.
It was dumb. For so many reasons it was dumb. But just for self-interest it was. And yes, it will have an impact.