L.J. Coller was taken with the 29th overall pick in 2019 by the Seattle Seahawks. He just recently signed with the Arizona Cardinals for a 1-year deal, probably worth the minimum. Thus ends the Seahawks tenure of the very worst first round draft pick John Schneider ever made.

To be fair, it’s not like there’s been a TON of first round draft picks. There’s been FIVE years in that span (2010-2022) where we didn’t make a selection until the second round! It almost happened a sixth time in 2019, I’m sure, but I gather we couldn’t find a trade partner willing to give us what we wanted to trade into the first round (not a good quarterback class AT ALL, really hampered us).

But, that being said, there have also been a number of first round duds taken by the Seahawks in that time. James Carpenter was disappointing (and entirely miscast as a right tackle), Germain Ifedi was a frequent whipping boy (and ALSO entirely miscast as a right tackle), Rashaad Penny was a reach and oft-injured, and no one’s ever happy when their team takes an off-ball linebacker that high (Jordyn Brooks has been good, but not quite elite, and now quite injured).

L.J. Collier, however, out-sucks them all and it’s not even close.

The circumstances weren’t great at the time for the Seahawks. In 2019, we were still clinging to the delusion that we were a championship contender. We were trying to recover from YEARS of mismanagement along the defensive line – starting right around the point where we took Malik McDowell in the second round in 2017 – and this was really the nadir. Frank Clark was coming up for a new contract. We franchise tagged him, then traded him to the Chiefs for a bounty of picks. It was our only viable move, really, since we didn’t even have the money to cover the tag, let alone enough money or draft capital to replenish all the spots that needed filling.

It was just unfortunate, in retrospect, that we couldn’t find a trade partner with a pick higher than the 29th. But, there was nothing doing, and by the time the draft got to the 29th spot, there wasn’t a quality defensive end left.

The consensus was down on Collier from the start. He was a reach. He had no marketable skills on the football field. If you squinted (and REALLY lied to yourself), you saw a guy who could play inside and outside – a la Michael Bennett – but in reality this guy wasn’t anything CLOSE to Michael Bennett.

45 games in 4 years for the Seahawks. 16 starts, all in 2020. His career got off to a bad start with an injury in training camp as a rookie; that set him back considerably. Or, maybe it didn’t. Maybe he was just fucking terrible, and a track record of perfect health wouldn’t have made any difference. I know this, injuries didn’t keep him off the field 2020-2022. You know what did? His incompetence at the game of football. He was frequently a healthy scratch on gamedays. On a line – mind you – that wasn’t very good as it was! We’ve never STOPPED trying to recover from the years of mismanagement along the defensive line! And he couldn’t even crack THAT rotation in many weeks!

3.0 career sacks, all in 2020. 40 career tackles – less than one per game. So, no pass rush ability, and not really anything special when it came to stopping the run. He didn’t do a fucking thing in his time here.

It’s adorable that Collier’s agent is throwing shade at the Seahawks and their scheme. I mean, I know the Seahawks have been far from perfect (especially defensively), but Pete Carroll has a track record. Other players HAVE stepped up and produced in this system. If Collier goes to the Cardinals and becomes a force to be reckoned with, I’ll eat my fucking hat.

Good. Fucking. Riddance.

Now, let’s go out and find a proper defensive end in this year’s draft to take his place.