Trent Dilfer says Matt Hasselbeck 'saved my life' with Seahawks

Trent Dilfer had glowing, emotional praise on Monday night that backup Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who he says 'saved my life' when the two played together with the Seahawks.

Dilfer says Hassy 'saved my life' when they played in Seattle. (Getty Images)

Matt Hasselbeck's been relegated to backup duties with the Titans, as the Jake Locker era gets underway in 2012. But he's handling it well, and in Hasselbeck, Locker's lucky to have a good mentor who won't cause a stir about riding the pine.

And that may just be the half of it -- ESPN's Trent Dilfer, calling Thursday night's Monday Night Football game between the Titans and the Cardinals, said that when he and Hasselbeck played together on the Seahawks in 2003, Hasselbeck "saved [his] life."

At the time, Dilfer had just lost his five-year-old son to heart disease. And he said on air Thursday, via Nate Davis of USA Today, that it was Hasselbeck who brought him out of a dark period of his life.

"[Hasselbeck was] walking me through the most difficult time of my life. I mean I was a mess," Dilfer said. "I'll be very transparent. I mean I was 265 pounds and drinking myself to sleep. I'm depressed, my wife's going, 'What's going on?' And it's that guy, Matthew Hasselbeck, that says, 'This is over. I love you too much to let you do this to yourself. You need to come back up to Seattle.'

"And I credit Matthew Hasselbeck for the type of father I am, the type of husband I am, because he really saved my life in 2003."

That's powerful stuff for sure. That Dilfer was willing to bare his soul like that on national television is impressive. But more impressive is the type of impact that Hasselbeck had on his backup quarterback at the time.

And though Locker may never face the same sort of dark days, Dilfer believes that having Hasselbeck as a mentor makes Locker "the luckiest guy in the NFL right now."

"Jake Locker might be the luckiest guy in the NFL right now," Dilfer said. "He's got a good football team, he's got a great coaching staff, and he's got the best dude in the world -- who probably should be playing -- mentoring him and pushing him and teaching him those lessons. So Jake Locker, his family, his kids -- not to mention the organization -- are better off because Matthew Hasselbeck's here. It's great for Jake Locker, it's tough for Matthew, but I guarantee you nobody will handle it better than Matthew."

For what it's worth, Locker seems to understand exactly how lucky he is to have a veteran that's willing to take him under his wing despite still having good football left on his arm, and said on Thursday night that he considers Hasselbeck's presence on the Titans a "blessing."

"I think he's affected my life more off the field than he has on," Locker said. "He's just a great guy, a guy that I'm very thankful to have a friendship with. And, yeah, he's been a blessing in my life."

None of this will do anything to push Hasselbeck into the starting lineup; it'll take an injury to Locker or some serious struggles from the second-year player for Hasselbeck to regain the starting job back.

But it does speak to the character of Hasselbeck and should give Titans fans confidence that the veteran will impart all kinds of life lessons -- both on- and off the field -- to the future of their franchise.

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