What If The Seahawks Take A Quarterback With The Fifth Pick?

Posted on March 6, 2023 by dunderhead99

This question feels like a waste of time. It feels like clickbait nonsense. When you read it from established journalists/pundits – as opposed to yours truly, who’s writing this in his pajamas in the middle of the afternoon while listening to some #FunkyDiscoHouse – it feels like they’re just parroting what unnamed agents/NFL front offices want them to “leak”, for financial/competitive gains.

When I read about the Seahawks showing interest in the quarterback position at the top of the draft, it seems very disingenuous. That’s what we WANT the rest of the league to believe, so the price to trade into our spot goes up. Or, so teams will leapfrog us, in hopes that one of the bigtime defensive line prospects falls to us. And/or to drive Geno Smith’s price down.

99.9% of me believes it’s bullshit that the Seahawks would select a quarterback with the fifth overall draft pick. I can’t say 100%, because nothing is 100% in the game of football. But, I’m saying it without saying it: the Seahawks are NOT drafting a quarterback fifth overall.

I say that as a fan of the Seahawks who has followed this organization VERY closely through the years.

Can you name the highest-drafted quarterback in the Pete Carroll/John Schneider era? You should, because his name is Russell Wilson, and he was famously taken by us in the third round. We’ve taken exactly one other quarterback in the draft since 2010: Alex McGough in 2018, in the 7th round. That’s a 50% success rate, for those keeping track at home.

The Seahawks have largely been unconventional at the spot over the last 12+ years. The inherited Matt Hasselbeck, they traded for Charlie Whitehurst (a huge bust), they took on Tarvaris Jackson because he was familiar with Darrell Bevell’s system, they made a medium-sized splash on Matt Flynn, and they’ve run through a number of starting busts to sit behind Wilson until we got to Geno and Drew Lock last year battling it out. LOTTA crap there, up to and including Hasselbeck’s last year here (when he was over the hill), outside of hitting the lottery on Russell Wilson.

But, at the same time, there haven’t been those huge swings you see out of most other franchises. Do you know who was the last quarterback we drafted in the first two rounds? The much-maligned Rick Mirer at number two overall, back in 1993. In fact, there’s only one other QB the Seahawks have taken in the first two rounds, and that was Dan McGwire at number 16 in 1991 (when Chuck Knox lobbied hard for Brett Favre). That’s a 0% success rate, for those keeping track at home.

Isn’t that interesting, though? When you think about the Seahawks, you don’t think about us being totally bereft of quarterback talent. But, we’ve been unorthodox at getting our guys. Jim Zorn was an undrafted free agent. Dave Krieg was as well. Warren Moon was a free agent, Matt Hasselbeck was a trade acquisition; those are all the big names, that comprise a significant chunk of the Pre-Wilson Seahawks history.

What’s also interesting – especially going from the Holmgren era through the John Schneider era (both with ties to the Green Bay Packers way of doing things) – is that this organization doesn’t even take a lot of draft fliers the way the Packers model themselves after. We get our franchise quarterback, and we throw whatever scrubs we find off the scrap heap behind him. Now, to be fair, what are we talking about? The Packers have made two high-profile draft picks of Aaron Rodgers (when Favre was still playing at a high level) and Jordan Love (when Rodgers was still playing at a high level); it’s not like they’re actually drafting a new quarterback every season.

But, that’s their reputation, and that’s also the reputation that was foisted upon John Schneider. I don’t know if he buys into that or not. Maybe that was an unfair allegation that was levied against him, since he came from Green Bay. But, regardless, it hasn’t been even remotely his practice since coming here. Not even when you consider this team really could’ve used a little more attention paid to the position!

There are those rumors that he was all in on Patrick Mahomes and/or Josh Allen. That if those guys would’ve fallen to us in their respective draft classes, we would’ve taken one of them even though that was smack in Wilson’s prime. Of course, we’ll never know; it’s easy to plant those stories to make yourself look smart. It’s also easy to plant those stories when you want to drive down the price of your own franchise quarterback in times of contract extension. But, it’s a great What If. What if we traded Wilson back in 2017 and acquired a ton of draft picks at that time? What if we used those picks to select (or trade up for) one of Mahomes or Allen? Wouldn’t that be exciting?!

That’s where you get to the 00.1% chance of the Seahawks taking a quarterback at five. Because to do that, they would have to be SO SURE this guy is the next superstar in this league. Which is what makes all the Anthony Richardson hullabaloo at the combine over the weekend all the more intriguing. He blew the collective minds of everyone watching, with his freakish athleticism, with his interviewing skills, and with his leadership traits. He also apparently had a very positive interview with Pete Carroll (who, as we all remember, had that crazy interaction with D.K. Metcalf before we later took him at the end of the second round).

Would I be excited if the Seahawks took a quarterback at five? You’re damn right I would be! Because I love a surprise out of left field. Because I don’t really want to overpay for Geno Smith’s services. And because I would have to 100% buy in on this guy, since the organization is taking such a huge risk. With our philosophy largely undermining the quarterback spot throughout the years, this would be a HUGE step in the other direction.

Naturally, it depends on who we take at five. I’ll say this, there’s no “sure thing” in this draft. Bryce Young is undersized and slight of frame. Also, I don’t know how much I buy Alabama quarterbacks, after the underwhelming showing of both Mac Jones and Tua (Hurts goes pretty far in turning that tide for me, but he also transferred out of there, and had to find a way to succeed without the crutch of being on the best roster college football has to offer). C.J. Stroud has great accuracy, but lacks a willingness to scramble, and if I don’t trust Bama quarterbacks, I REALLY don’t trust Buckeye QBs. He also had the luxury of being on an elite roster of players, and it’s impossible to tell how someone will react to the real world of the NFL, where there’s significantly more parity.

Richardson is naturally on everyone’s minds – and might excite me more than the other two guys, if only for his potential upside – but he has serious accuracy problems. He also didn’t play much at college and might be a little too reliant on his legs for success at the next level. I know it feels nitpicky – one guy runs too much, the other not enough, what is this a 3 Bears situation? – but that’s the nature of the beast with drafting a quarterback, especially in the upper half of the first round. For every Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning, there are dozens of Blake Bortleses. You don’t often get those “sure things”. Most of the time, you get someone with flaws that you hope don’t usher him out of the league as a bust.

But, as I said, if the Seahawks take a quarterback at five, of course I’m going to be excited! What other choice do I have? That being said, if it’s not one of those three guys I just referenced, not only would it be a gargantuan shock, but it would be downright irresponsible. There’s just no one else worthy of that kind of attention.

When Seahawks fans speculate on the team taking a QB, it’s usually in the second or third round; MAYBE with the 20th overall pick (or trade down from 20 and take him later in the first). That feels a little more reasonable. It’s FAR less sexy, but it’s also probably the smarter play. Take a bigger project with less upside and hope to mold him over this season as he rides the pine behind Geno. But, can you imagine how much we’d lose our minds if we were one of those teams to take a quarterback in the top five?! What a thrill!

The Top Ten Biggest Seattle Sports Disappointments

Posted on July 1, 2020 by dunderhead99

It’s a cloudy-ass day in July and we haven’t had any sports that I give a shit about in over three months, so why not kick off the month with a big ball of negativity?!

Once again, in the absence of any decent sports news, I take inspiration from the Brock & Salk podcast, where one of the listeners asked the question of who is on your Seattle sports Mount Rushmore for biggest disappointments? I’m clearly unable to limit my disgust to just four individuals, so you get a Top Ten from me (with an extra Honorable Mention – FREE OF CHARGE – because these disappointments are like my babies, I can’t leave any of them out!).

Being a Sports Disappointment is obviously a nebulous concept with lots of different definitions, so here’s mine (for the sake of today’s argument): these are people who we expected to be great when they came here, and ultimately totally sucked. How they got here is irrelevant, so I’m not factoring in (as heavily) if it was a lopsided trade, a high draft pick, or an inflated contract (with the basis that all of these players were terrible for their respective Seattle sports teams, one would assume a poor trade, draft slot, or contract is a given anyway). Similarly, this can’t be based on someone else that our team passed on in the draft, because there would be inherent disappointment already built into that selection.

Malik McDowell, for instance, doesn’t qualify for this list. He’s certainly one of the most damaging draft picks of the last decade for the Seahawks, but as a second rounder, I don’t think expectations were astronomical that he’d be anything truly amazing. Likewise, trading away Scottie Pippen for Olden Polynice doesn’t qualify, because I would like to think most people noted that right away to be a terrible deal, and as such I can’t imagine there were great expectations for ol’ #0.

Without further ado, let’s get to our Honorable Mention: Jesus Montero. The Mariners traded for the former #1 overall baseball prospect early in 2012 from the Yankees. Given Michael Pineda’s career since he left Seattle, this is one of those infamous Lose/Lose deals. Nevertheless, the next ten guys I talk about must’ve been REALLY bad, because Montero was as mediocre as it gets. The main reason why he’s on the outside looking in is because by the time he came to Seattle, there was already a building consensus that he wasn’t long for the catcher position. He just didn’t have the build, the skills, nor the presence with the pitching staff for his defense to measure up. The hope was that maybe he could land at first base with some practice, but ultimately I think most saw him as a future DH. Regardless of that, there was NO QUESTION that his bat would be what provided the bulk of his value, and when you’re talking about those Mariners squads from 2008-2013, a hulking power bat from the right side of the plate was our white whale. Montero was SUPPOSED to be our cleanup hitter for the next decade; instead he hasn’t been in the Majors since 2015, and is more known for his ice cream sandwich fight than his “prowess” on the baseball diamond.

#10 – Danny Hultzen (Mariners)

This is the only real draft bust on the list (not to say there aren’t some REALLY BAD draft picks going forward, but at least those guys played a little bit!). Hultzen was a #2 overall draft pick, considered to be the safest starting pitcher prospect of the 2011 draft, and appeared to be on the fast track to make it to the Major Leagues within 2-3 years. Even if there was a question of his stuff – and his high-ceiling/ace potential – if his arm injuries didn’t totally derail him, we WOULD HAVE seen him pitch for the Mariners relatively early in his career. We’ll never know how disappointing that might’ve been, but I remember being really high on this guy when we got him, and it’s one of the great What If’s in recent Mariners history.

#9 – Justin Smoak (Mariners)

He’s sort of in that Jesus Montero realm, in that he was formerly a very highly-rated prospect, with the bloom starting to come off the rose by the time the M’s were able to acquire him. Oddly enough, when we made the deal in 2010, it’s reported that the Mariners turned down a proposed offer from the Yankees which would’ve included Montero! What did we do to get so lucky as to end up with BOTH when all was said and done?! Again, we’re talking about the Dead Ball Mariners of 2008-2013 or so; Smoak was really the first bite at the apple of trying to turn around our moribund offense. Switch-hitter with power, elite first base defense, good eye at the plate, and a proven minor league track record to hit for average, get on base at a high clip, and impress with his power to all fields. That ended up translating to the Bigs as Warning Track Power, someone who couldn’t really hit from the right side at all, a very LOW batting average, and someone who would consistently roll over on pitches instead of hitting to all fields as advertised. While his defense played, and he had an okay eye for taking walks, he also struck out a ton and didn’t start figuring out how to play at this level until he left for Toronto, where he was an All Star in 2017 (with 22+ homers in the last three seasons, the high being 38 in that aforementioned All Star season).

#8 – Aaron Curry (Seahawks)

As a #4 overall draft pick in 2009, you can certainly point to any number of linebackers taken after him and lament Tim Ruskell’s poor decision-making. BUT! I said we’re not doing that here! So, instead let’s just look at the situation at the time: the Seahawks were coming off of a pretty abysmal 2008 season where the defense just had NOTHING going for it. The offense looked like it MIGHT be salvagable with our aging veterans, but the defense needed an injection of youth and explosiveness. Curry was famously the “safest” pick off the board, as someone who could come in, play right away, and play at a high level. Even then, though, his game started getting picked apart pretty quickly. We soon learned there wasn’t much of a pass-rushing threat to his game, which made him ostensibly a coverage linebacker. The Seahawks have long prided themselves on quality linebacker play, so that checks out. Except, as it turned out, Curry couldn’t even do THAT well! He did, in fact, nothing well, and two years later we traded him to the Raiders in the middle of the 2011 season for draft picks (one of which would turn out to be J.R. Sweezy, which wasn’t too shabby of a return, all things considered).

#7 – Dustin Ackley (Mariners)

Speaking of #2 overall draft picks, welcome to the first pick of the Jack Zduriencik Era in 2009! I wrote pretty extensively on the topic of Dustin Ackley over the years, to the point where the rest of my list today SERIOUSLY conflicts with that post I just linked to. But, I would argue the parameters of the argument today are a little different. I’m trying to eliminate all outside factors and just focus on the players themselves. Yes, Ackley was VERY disappointing! He was supposed to be a guy who hit for a very high average, with enough pop/speed/defense to make him a regular All Star for his Major League career. Instead, he was middling at best and hasn’t cracked a Major League roster since 2016. I would also put part of the blame on the Mariners’ front office, as they continuously dicked around with him. He was a primo first baseman in college, with some experience in the outfield. What did we do? We made him a second baseman, which almost certainly stunted his development. Then, when that failed, we tried to make him a centerfielder, even though he really didn’t have the range or ability to cover that much ground (especially in Safeco Field at the time). And yet, the bat never showed up in Seattle, so that’s ultimately why he’s such a disappointment.

#6 – Chone Figgins (Mariners)

You really, REALLY hate to see it! This was the first big free agent bust of the Jack Zduriencik Era: four years, $36 million in December of 2009. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I was for this signing! By this point, we’d long realized that Safeco Field – with its configuration, and with our Marine Layer in Seattle – would be death to home run hitters. Guys like Adrian Beltre, Richie Sexson, among others, tried and ultimately failed to replicate their prior glories in Seattle. But, Figgins was the opposite of that! He was an undersized Jack-Of-All-Trades type of Swiss Army Knife you could plug in at nearly EVERY position on the field, with zero power hype to speak of whatsoever! And, most importantly, he’d hit for the Angels in a big way (.291 average & .363 on-base percentage in Anaheim across 8 seasons before signing with the Mariners). Slot him in at third base (his preferred position) and at the top of your batting lineup, and watch him hit .300 and steal 40+ bases! He somehow reached that stolen base plateau in his first year here, but his average dropped about 40 points overnight. He couldn’t get along with the Mariners’ management (and, presumably, some of the players) and was deemed the very worst signing of Jack Zduriencik’s career. Smarter baseball people than myself probably saw all this coming, but I’ll admit it was a rude awakening for me.

#5 – Percy Harvin (Seahawks)

If this were a list of my own personal Most Loathed Seattle Sports Athletes, Harvin would probably rank higher. I have no problem invoking his name among the greatest all-time Seahawks blunders because he is SO unlikable (the peak being him punching out Golden Tate before our Super Bowl victory in the 2013 season). Why he doesn’t rank higher here is the fact that we DID win that Super Bowl (mostly in spite of him), on top of the fact that I think most of us realized – when the deal was made – that it was too high a price to pay for ANYONE, even with his ability (at the time). Still, he had proven in his career with the Vikings to be a lethal gadget player on offense, and one of the best return men in the Special Teams department. While we could see the cost in draft picks and contract compensation was stratospheric, it was hard not to dream big about what this offense could be with Harvin in the fold. Russell Wilson, Marshawn Lynch, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, AND Percy Harvin?! Come on! And, then he immediately got injured upon arrival, and didn’t really end up making any impact whatsoever until we reached the Super Bowl. The highlight of his Seahawks career was the kickoff return for a touchdown against the Broncos. Some thought he deserved consideration for the Super Bowl MVP, but we were already up 22-0 at the time, so I mean. The bottom line is, Harvin dogged it in 2014 – taking himself out of games, refusing to play through anything more than a hangnail – and was traded in the middle of the season for whatever we could get. So much wasted money and potential.

#4 – Erik Bedard (Mariners)

Everyone points to the lopsided deal – that sent the Orioles a ton of quality baseball players – but the true crime is just how bad Bedard became as soon as he got here! He was a bona fide Ace-type pitcher for Baltimore – so much so that he was deemed to be the #1 over Felix Hernandez in his first year here – and the expectation was that our rotation would lead us back to the playoffs with Bedard in the fold. Instead, he was a consummate Five-And-Dive artist who both stunk AND couldn’t stay healthy. Why he’s not higher on this list is because all of those Mariners teams were VERY terrible and would have been regardless, with our without Bedard. Still a bitter pill to swallow.

#3 – Rick Mirer (Seahawks)

The bigger disappointment here is the fact that the Seahawks had the #2 pick at all, and not the #1 (which would’ve guaranteed us Drew Bledsoe). In that Dustin Ackley piece, I had Dan McGwire among the biggest draft pick disappointments in Seattle sports history, but that largely hinged on who we DIDN’T get in that draft – namely: Brett Favre – but I don’t think anyone REALLY expected greatness out of McGwire (except for the inept Seahawks ownership group at the time). Rick Mirer, on the other hand, was very highly regarded. Even if he wasn’t the ideal QB of that draft, he wasn’t supposed to be a bad fall-back option. But, he was worse than anyone could’ve possibly imagined. He nearly destroyed my standing as a Seahawks fan for the rest of the 1990’s! The saving grace for Mirer is the fact that we were able to flip him for a first round draft pick in 1997.

#2 – Jeff Cirillo (Mariners)

I just remember LOVING this deal so much! In December of 2001 – coming off of the Mariners’ 116-win campaign – we were looking at one of the most complete teams in the Major Leagues. One of our main weak spots was third base, where we employed the pedestrian David Bell. Cirillo, on the other hand, had a remarkable 10-year career to that point with the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies, where he hit over .300, had an on-base percentage over .450, hardly ever struck out, and played a quality third base! I mean, on a team with Ichiro, Boone, Olerud, Edgar, Cameron, Wilson, Guillen, McLemore, and the rest, Cirillo was only going to put us MORE over the top! That’s when we got our first big taste of what happens when guys come over from Colorado: the thin air they play in made hitting at home a breeze. Meanwhile, in Seattle, even for someone like Cirillo – who wasn’t a natural power hitter by any means – it seems like Safeco just got in everyone’s heads if nothing else. He hit for a miserable .234 across two partial seasons, and his on-base percentage plummeted to a ridiculous .295! To add insult to injury, those two seasons coincided with two of the most frustrating years to be a Mariners fan, where both teams won 93 games, yet failed to make the playoffs because baseball is dumb and only had one Wild Card team at the time. To add even more insult to even more injury, we traded him away in early 2004 and got essentially nothing back in return.

#1 – Vin Baker (Supersonics)

You don’t see a lot of Sonics on this list, because for the most part – until the bitter end – we were a pretty well-run organization. Sure, you can point to the litany of failed centers we drafted in the 2000’s, but I would argue most fans saw through those duds the minute their names were called. Similarly, everyone wondered why someone like Jim McIlvaine was given such a high-money contract, so to be “disappointed” would mean you’d have to have high expectations for someone who had hardly done anything in his career to that point! Vin Baker, on the other hand, was a multi-year All Star in the NBA for the Milwaukee Bucks. I almost didn’t want to include Baker on this list, because for some reason I have memories of more good times than actually existed. The truth of the matter is – upon trading for him when Shawn Kemp forced his way out in a 3-team deal, justifiably, because McIlvaine – the Sonics only enjoyed ONE quality year out of Baker. The first year here, the 1997/1998 season, when he maintained his All Star streak and led the Sonics to a semifinals appearance in George Karl’s last go-around in Seattle.

He then immediately fell off the cliff. The strike-shortened season saw Baker’s alcoholism creep in, resulting in a ballooning of his weight that drastically reduced his effectiveness on the court. For some reason, in spite of his fall-off, the Sonics rewarded him with a 7-year, $86 million deal. Yet, he was never the same, with three increasingly-mediocre seasons to follow before we were able to trade him to the Celtics for a bunch of role players. There’s a lot of unfair resentment towards Baker for tanking his career the way he did, but I think mostly people just feel sorry for him. No one in Seattle wanted to see Shawn Kemp leave; indeed Wally Walker & Co. did a remarkable job of destroying a championship-calibre squad. But, I can’t tell you how happy I was that we were able to get Baker here initially! His game – if maybe not his personality – fit this team PERFECTLY! He had a better post-up game than Kemp, could shoot from long range better than Kemp, and overall you didn’t have to worry about the ups & downs. Baker was a steady 20/10 type of guy when he got here, night-in and night-out. Which makes his post-1998 years SO disappointing! His wasn’t the type of game that should’ve deteriorated so quickly. Kemp’s game was more raw athleticism; Baker’s game was fundamental basketball prowess. Yet, when it’s all said and done, two of the great basketball tragedies to come out of that lockout season were Baker and Kemp, both succumbing to being out of shape and never ultimately recovering.

Where Will L.J. Collier Rank Among All-Time Seahawks First Round Draft Busts?

Posted on April 16, 2020 by dunderhead99

If this sounds like I’m giving up on L.J. Collier … I kind of am.

The Seahawks, as you well know, don’t tend to pick in the first round of drafts very often under Pete Carroll and John Schneider. Since 2010, they’ve made exactly seven first round picks in six NFL drafts, and after that first year, it’s a real Who’s Who of Utter Crap.

That’s not totally fair, but I’d say “underwhelming” is the general theme once you go past Russell Okung and Earl Thomas:

2011 – James Carpenter (OL)
2012 – Bruce Irvin (LB/DE)
2016 – Germain Ifedi (OL)
2018 – Rashaad Penny (RB)
2019 – L.J. Collier (DE)

Woof. Bruce Irvin is clearly the best of THAT pitiful bunch, but even he hasn’t lived up to what you might expect from a pass rusher taken with the 15th overall pick.

There aren’t enough bad things to say about everyone else. James Carpenter was supposed to be a right tackle, but he struggled, had to move inside to guard, still struggled (though not as much), and ended up leaving after his rookie deal expired. Germain Ifedi was ALSO supposed to be a right tackle, but he too struggled, moved inside briefly before returning to tackle, and made moderate improvement (but, based on his overall body of work, it has since been determined that not only is he not worth a high-money contract, but he’s also not good enough to remain on the outside of the line) before leaving after his rookie deal expired. And, just the fact that the Seahawks took a running back AT ALL in the first round is enough for most fans to write off Rashaad Penny, though I would argue he has looked pretty good when healthy and in shape.

But, there’s no legitimate defense whatsoever for Collier. There are EXCUSES, sure. He sprained his ankle as a rookie and missed all of Training Camp last year. That set him back for the entire season, as he never fully got acclimated to the defense. Pro Football Reference has him at 152 snaps on the season; by comparison, Bobby Wagner led the entire defense with 1,054 snaps, and Jadeveon Clowney led the D-Line with 605 (and he missed three games).

I don’t care that Collier was such a low first round pick, he’s a first rounder and it’s inexcusable that he either wasn’t prepared enough or just plain wasn’t good enough to see the field more. This is on a defense, mind you, that was as bad as it gets in its pass rush. The sack leader on the 2019 Seahawks was Rasheem Green with 4.0. I mean, I don’t know what more to tell you; Collier was a first rounder and he couldn’t crack THAT rotation?! What a joke!

A lot of people want to write off his rookie campaign and believe he’ll be better in 2020. Well, he’d almost HAVE to be, right? How could you be any worse than that? Collier had three tackles and that’s it; that’s the entirety of his stat line. But, I can’t say I have any reasonable expectations of improvement. If you’re effectively healthy for the majority of the regular season – even as a rookie, even if you missed all of Training Camp – as a first round draft pick, there should be enough God-given ability for you to do LITERALLY ANYTHING.

Any hopes that Collier is going to be a future Pro Bowler or even a quality starter should probably be thrown out the window at this point. Obviously, I hope I’m wrong here, but I don’t think I am. The only reason this came to mind at all is because of what’s going on with this coronavirus ordeal. Collier’s struggles last year are largely attributed to his missing Training Camp; you know what he’s likely to also miss in 2020? Training Camp! EVERYONE is likely to miss Training Camp because we probably won’t be in any sort of condition as a country to allow for Training Camp, or any other large gatherings of people. Call it bad luck all you want – indeed, it’s quite unfortunate – but that doesn’t change the fact that Collier is likely to head into Season Two just as behind the 8-ball as he was in Season One.

So, in case you think I haven’t laid out a good-enough case for why Collier has really legitimate potential to be the worst first round draft pick of the Carroll/Schneider era, let me summarize:

Russell Okung – Great
Earl Thomas – Hall of Famer
James Carpenter – Competent Guard, mostly with the Jets
Bruce Irvin – Good
Germain Ifedi – Semi-Competent Tackle
Rashaad Penny – Okay
L.J. Collier – Probably Terrible

With that out of the way, how does my vision for Collier potentially rank among the all-time Seahawks first round draft busts? I won’t go through every single guy, but let’s talk about the worst of the worst (that I have at least limited knowledge about).

Aaron Curry and Lawrence Jackson always come immediately to mind when Seahawks fans talk about first round busts, but I would argue both of those guys are at least more competent than you remember. Lo-Jack had 19.5 sacks in his career! Is there any indication whatsoever that Collier could reach that level? Curry’s main problem is that he was – for some reason – taken with the fourth overall pick, so high expectations really tarnish his reputation in this scenario.

I’ll gloss over a lot of players before those guys, until we get to Chris McIntosh and Lamar King. King was famously Mike Holmgren’s first-ever pick as General Manager of the Seahawks when he came over from Green Bay. He was killed then, and continues to be killed now for taking King, but … 12.0 sacks in 57 games. Obviously not great, or even good, but not the absolute worst either. McIntosh, on the other hand, might give Collier a run for his money. He was taken 22nd overall and only played in 24 games across two seasons on the O-line before flaming out of the league.

Dan McGwire will always be on my shit list – through no fault of his own, really – for being the guy we selected ahead of Brett Favre in 1991. First-ever Seahawks draft pick – Steve Niehaus – also deserves recognition, for only making it into 39 games in his 4-year career (thee with the Seahawks) and accumulating exactly zero sacks (hard to say if they were counting that stat back then, but clearly he didn’t make much of an impact as the second-overall selection in 1976).

And, if you want to count Supplemental Draft first rounders, you’ve gotta throw The Boz in there, as well as someone named Gordon Hudson (who was a tight end taken in 1984, who only played one season, in 1986, but at least he caught 13 balls for 131 yards and a TD).

I’m throwing Collier into the Top 3 Worst Seahawks First Round Draft Picks with Dan McGwire and Chris McIntosh. Obviously, we’re only one season in, so he can EASILY get his name off of this list with just a minimal amount of production. But, you know what? Consider the challenge thrown down! Let’s turn this career around!

The Biggest Blunders In Seattle Sports History

Posted on March 5, 2020 by dunderhead99

There’s always a reason to be disgruntled about what’s going on with sports in the Seattle area. We’re far from burdened with championship squads, unless the MLS or WNBA is your bag (which is fine if they are, but they’re just not mine). I don’t have a good handle on the breakdown, but essentially most sports fans complain about one of two things: something unfortunate happened to our team that’s outside of their control, or our team did something fucking stupid that effectively sabotaged all hope for success.

If we were talking about the former, I’d bring up something like Super Bowl XL (where I’ll go down to my dying breath contending we were jobbed by the refs at every turn), various good-looking trades that just didn’t pan out for a variety of reasons (Percy Harvin, Vin Baker, the deal to bring Cliff Lee in), or the countless injuries to promising young stars/prospects who could’ve been great had their bodies only held together (Franklin Gutierrez, Malik McDowell, Danny Hultzen, our entire secondary right before Super Bowl XL).

But, I’m talking about the blunders! The dumb-looking shit that was dumb-looking at the time and only proceeded to grow ever more mind-boggling with each passing year. It’s a rough sketch, but here are the top ten worst self-inflicted wounds I can think of in Seattle sports history.

#10 – We Want The Ball & We’re Gonna Score

You gotta have stakes in this thing, so any individual event has to come in the playoffs at a minimum. This one happened in the Wild Card round of the 2003 season. It’s not JUST that the Seahawks won the coin flip heading into overtime and Matt Hasselbeck made that unfortunate guarantee (indeed, I thought it was cool then, and I would gladly welcome such bravado anytime), but combine that with the fateful call.

Let’s go back: remember, this was back when the first score of overtime wins, regardless; so all we needed to do was get into field goal range. We got a first down and had the ball at our own 45 yard line. A stuffed run and an incompletion made it 3rd & 11. And, for some reason, Mike Holmgren decided to call a 5-wide receiver set. For some reason on top of that, Hasselbeck decided to throw the ball to our 5th receiver, Alex Bannister. For some reason on top of THAT, it was an out-pass – the easiest one to undercut and run back for a pick-six – that the receiver didn’t even get beyond the 11 yards needed for the first down! And, of course, not for nothing, but the pass was simply terribly thrown. The rest is history, and so began our continued demise whenever we play a playoff game in Lambeau Field.

#9 – The Deal To Trade Cliff Lee Away

It was supposed to be the epitome of a no-brainer. Cliff Lee was heading into the final year of his deal in 2010. At the time, he already had a Cy Young Award under his belt and was probably the best left-handed starting pitcher in the game. The Mariners traded three nobodies to the Phillies to bring Lee to Seattle and the plan was simple. The M’s were coming off of a winning season in 2009, and Lee – paired with a still-in-his-prime Felix Hernandez – was going to help push us over the top and back into playoff contention.

Unfortunately, Cliff Lee got injured in Spring Training, and didn’t make his first start until the last day of April. In spite of Lee going 7 shutout innings that day, the Mariners lost 2-0 to drop their record to 11-12 on the season. On July 9th, our record fell to 34-52, and it was clear no playoffs would be forthcoming. That’s okay! We had a backup plan if things fell apart in spectacular fashion (which they did, as we would go on to lose 101 games). Since Cliff Lee was so great – indeed, his numbers after two months with the Mariners were among the best of his entire career – his value should’ve been sky high for a pitching-needy team looking to cement their status as a championship contender.

But, we had Jackie Z at the helm, and our return – Justin Smoak and three other nobodies – was far from inspiring. This was supposed to jumpstart our big rebuild, and Smoak was supposed to be the centerpiece. Instead, we rode his wave of warning track power into mediocre season after mediocre season. You could throw any number of trades Jackie Z made for the Mariners on the list of greatest blunders, but I’m putting this one here because Cliff Lee was amazing, and we BLEW IT.

#8 – Steve Hutchinson Transition Tag

The Seahawks were riding high after their appearance in Super Bowl XL. The only thing we could do to screw it up was dick around with our best players.

Tim Ruskell’s seat in Hell is being kept warm for him by the resentment and hatred of thousands upon thousands of Seahawks fans. What a buffoon! The offensive line was not only the backbone of the Seahawks’ offense, but it was easily the best part of the entire team, anchored on the left side by two Hall of Famers: Walter Jones & Steve Hutchinson. Through them, we had an MVP in running back Shaun Alexander. Through them, a sixth-round quarterback was able to play at a Pro Bowl level. We had the money, we had the desire, and indeed we had NO ANSWER for Hutch’s replacement when he eventually signed the Vikings’ Poison Pill contract!

The hit to the Seahawks was immediate and obvious. Bottom line was: the Seahawks were never the same again, and didn’t make it back to the Super Bowl until the 2013 season (with an all-new regime and set of superstars at the helm).

#7 – The Erik Bedard Trade

There’s no need to clarify; we all know which Bedard trade I’m talking about. In February of 2008, we gave up Adam Jones (5-time All Star center fielder; NOPE, COULDN’T HAVE USED HIM!), Chris Tillman (an All Star starting pitcher who would go on to have a 38-16 record from 2012-2014; NOPE, COULDN’T HAVE USED HIM!), and George Sherrill (an All Star reliever who would save 52 games from 2008-2009; NOPE, COULDN’T HAVE USED HIM!), among two other stiffs.

What we got back in return was a starter in Bedard who – like Lee before him – was brought in to be paired with a still-in-his-prime Felix Hernandez, coming off of a winning 2007 season. Instead, we got a guy who could never really stay healthy, whose style constantly saw his pitch counts inflated early in games, which meant you could only count on him for about 5 innings per start at best. On top of that, there were rumors abound about how he didn’t really give a shit about baseball or winning and was just in it for the paycheck (more power to you, I guess). He sucked so hard, the Mariners couldn’t even flip him for any semblance of value, which meant Bedard had to go down with the sinking ship that is our Mariners existence. On the plus side, this was the final straw to getting Bill Bavasi fired (on the down side, see: Jackie Z)

#6 – The Lowe/Varitek Trade

Woody Woodward stumbled into a lot of success in his tenure as GM of the Mariners. To our dismay, he had no idea what to do with this team once we started reaching those heights.

The 1997 Mariners were a fun bunch. Tons of heavy hitters all up and down the lineup. Led by Randy Johnson, the starting pitching was good enough to take us all the way, assuming the hitters hit and the relievers didn’t totally shit the bed.

As you might have guessed, there was A LOT of bed shitting in 1997; worst year for bed shitting I’ve ever seen, if I’m being honest! Woody Woodward, not knowing what he was doing or how he could rectify the problem, made two of the worst panic-deals for three of the worst relief pitchers I can imagine. The absolute worst was sending Derek Lowe (a 2-time All Star who would go on to win 176 games in his 17-year career) and Jason Varitek (a 3-time All Star catcher for the Red Sox over 15 seasons) for Heathcliff Slocumb (a turd).

Like most of these deals, this one wasn’t helpful in the short term (the M’s would go on to lose in the first round of the playoffs) and it was an outright disaster in the long-term (we either could’ve had two great players for the next decade, or at least flipped them for better players/prospects).

#5 – Jim McIlvaine Signing

Really the beginning of the end of the great run of Supersonics teams of the 90’s. Almost immediately following our hard-fought defeat in the NBA Finals to the greatest team of all time in six games, the Sonics looked like a team that could easily run it back and re-join the Bulls the very next year. You could argue center was our weakest spot on a team riddled with strengths all the way up and down the roster. So, enter Jim McIlvaine – a guy who had done NOTHING to that point – on a 7-year, $33.6 million deal (which was a lot at the time, trust me). He had a whopping TWO years under his belt at that point, as a reserve on the Washington Bullets, where his big claim to fame was averaging a hair over 2 blocks per game the year before in just under 15 minutes per.

This ungodly amount of money – for a guy who’d proven nothing in his brief pro career – obviously angered a lot of players on the Sonics, particularly Shawn Kemp, who effectively forced his way off the team in a deal that would bring in Vin Baker. Now, you can argue both Kemp and Baker – particularly after the strike season – did a lot to damage their own careers as we headed into the new Willennium, so who’s to say what would’ve happened to the Sonics had we gone in a different direction?

All I know is, McIlvaine instantly became entrenched in the starting lineup his first year with us, averaging 18 of the most worthless minutes of each and every game he was in, bringing NOTHING to the table. He actively made the team worse with his play alone, regardless of what happened to the chemistry in the locker room (which is exceedingly important in the NBA, with how long the season is, and how many games they have to play). We ended up losing in 7 games to the Houston Rockets in the conference semifinals, and that was as good as it got for the rest of the decade.

#4 – Randy Johnson Trade

I did a deep dive on this a few years ago that you can check out (as chance would have it, a lot of these other blunders find their way into this piece!), but the bottom line is this: the Mariners were cheap, and Randy Johnson’s best years were still AHEAD of him.

Moreover, I would argue that while the value looked pretty good at the time – indeed, two starting pitchers and a starting infielder isn’t a bad return – the very best Mariners teams of 2000 & 2001 were in such desperate need for a true #1 ace, that Randy Johnson would’ve been perfect for those teams. I’m sorry, I like Freddy Garcia as much as the next guy, but he’s no Randy. Randy who would go on to win four Cy Young Awards from 1999-2002 (again, the years where the Mariners were playing the very best ball in franchise history); you don’t think he could’ve helped those teams get over the hump, and maybe even win a World Series title?

#3 – Not Drafting Brett Favre

Chuck Knox ran the Seahawks efficiently and to the best of his abilities from 1983-1991. You could argue he got more than anyone could’ve expected him to out of a bunch of ragtag guys, especially with at best a mediocre quarterback in Dave Krieg. When it finally came time to move on, Knox had one man in mind in the 1991 NFL Draft: Brett Favre. Ownership, however, refused to see it, and refused to listen to their legendary head coach, opting to go with Dan McGwire with the 16th overall pick (Favre would fall to the Falcons in the second round).

See, McGwire was 6’8. You know, that insanely crazy height that no NFL teams want, because it’s too damn tall to be an effective quarterback? If you don’t remember McGwire, you’re lucky; he was trash. Knox would leave the Seahawks following the 1991 season, and immediately we’d fall to such lows that we’d have to draft yet another dud in 1993 (Rick Mirer, with the #2 overall pick, after losing an opportunity to draft Drew Bledsoe). That went on to cost us the rest of the 90’s, before Mike Holmgren came to town and properly revived this franchise. Had we had Brett Favre? Who knows?! There’s an alternate universe out there where the Seahawks were one of the great teams of the 1990’s.

By that same token, there’s an alternate universe out there where we had to deal with Favre constantly threatening to retire, then return, then retire, and so on. So, maybe we lucked out in the long run?

#2 – Not Properly Renovating Key Arena

By the early 1990’s, the Seattle Center Coliseum was in shambles. Teams around the league were updating their own arenas and it was time for Seattle to join in. Unfortunately – even though this was set up prior to the Kingdome implosion being a twinkle in any of our eyes – the city and county ultimately went the cheap, tight-ass route in renovating the arena. By the time it re-opened in 1995 – while it was a fine place to enjoy a basketball game, from a fan perspective – it was already out-of-date by NBA standards, and apparently impossible to derive any sort of profit from, again by NBA standards.

Say what you will about the league, or about tax payers funding sports venues, but you can’t deny the fact that the Sonics were the first in this city to start the trend of venue renovations, and they fucking blew it HARD. By the time subsequent ownership groups demanded the funds for a proper NBA facility, the Seahawks and Mariners had already gotten brand new stadia. Considering it had been such a short time since the opening of Key Arena, combined with public fatigue over the matter, it’s not shocking in the slightest that the Sonics were shot down.

You could obviously argue the biggest blunder was selling the Sonics to Howard Schultz, or the Schultz Group buying the load of horseshit from the OKC people. But, all of that stems from the inferior building that was presented to the world ahead of the 1995 season. Had we just gotten THAT right, everything else would’ve fallen into proper order, and we’d still have our fucking basketball team. Instead, 25+ years later, we’re finally getting around to doing what we should’ve done then, and for our troubles we get the NHL instead. An okay consolation prize, but obviously not what I’d prefer.

#1 – Slant At The Goalline

It’s hard to top losing a fucking NBA franchise on the list of biggest sports blunders, but costing your team a championship in the most demoralizing way possible? Yeah, I’d say that qualifies.

I would hope, by now, that consensus has found its head when it comes to the decision to throw in that scenario. The Seahawks had one time out remaining, it was second down. Run it and fail, and we’ve got zero time outs and they know we’re throwing two consecutive times (considering how that play ended up, you can’t tell me it wasn’t on the docket for at least one of those possible attempts).

Long story short: throwing was the correct call. Throwing a fucking SLANT at the goalline, to a fourth receiver in Ricardo Lockette (shades of the Bannister play up top), was absolutely the biggest blunder in Seattle sports history.

If you’re going to throw a slant, throw it to Baldwin or Kearse! But, no, DON’T THROW A SLANT! Throw literally anything else! Throw a fade to Chris Matthews – who, to that point, had been carving up the Patriots’ defense – or shit, just throw the ball 30 yards out of bounds! Anything but that!

Okay, that’s all. I have to go lay down now. Where’s my fainting couch?!

The Long Shadow of the Randy Johnson Trade

Posted on May 20, 2016 by dunderhead99

I moved this to my Seattle’s Worst Trades, Draft Picks & Free Agent Signings heading HERE.

Is Dustin Ackley The Most Disappointing Draft Pick In Seattle Sports History?

Posted on May 14, 2015 by dunderhead99

Right off the bat, don’t talk to me about the Sounders, the Storm, or any other lesser sport I don’t care as much about. This is a Seahawks/Sonics/Mariners discussion, so LAY OFF!

Also, we’re talking straight draft picks. Believe me, I’m well aware of all the bad trades and free agent signings, as well as the draft picks we’ve traded away, but this is a look at the most disappointing players we’ve seen drafted in this city for those three professional franchises. With that out of the way, let’s begin.

Dustin Ackley was taken with the #2 overall pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. In 2008, the Seattle Mariners finished 61-101 for the right to pick #2 overall. You may recall that, going into the final three games of the 2008 season, the Mariners were 58-101 and in line for the #1 overall pick. The Washington Nationals, with three games to go, were 59-99. So, what happened? The Mariners swept the A’s and the Nationals got swept by the Phillies. As such, the Nationals were graced with the #1 overall pick and the right to draft the hottest pitching prospect since Roger Clemens: Stephen Strasburg.

You can say what you want about the injury-plagued start to Strasburg’s career, but you can’t deny he has elite stuff and you can’t deny he’s had three very good seasons from 2012-2014. We don’t know where his career will take him – and obviously, with Mike Trout being selected by the Angels with the 25th overall pick, it’s not like he’s the best player in that draft – but one thing we do know is that he’s a HELLUVA lot better than Dustin Ackley will ever be.

We got screwed. Dustin Ackley was supposed to be the clear best hitter and most Major League-ready player in that draft. We were going to get an athletic guy who could play the outfield or various infield spots, and a mainstay in our lineup. Your prototypical 2-hole hitter. He was supposed to have a good eye, get on base at a fantastic clip, and even hit for a bit of power (mostly doubles, but the occasional homer), with just enough speed on the basepaths to keep everyone honest.

What we GOT was a guy with a poor eye at the plate, poor pitch selection, a noodle-arm, who rolls over on balls to the second or first baseman 80% of the time. At a time (coming off of our attrocious 2008 season, continuing through our 2010 season where we were one of the worst offenses of all time), Ackley was supposed to breeze through the minors and give our lineup a boost. Instead, he’s been spoken in the same breath as Justin Smoak and Jesus Montero WAY too often for comfort.

He sucks us in because he’s a #2-overall pick, and because he sometimes has these wonderful second halves to seasons that trick us into thinking he’s finally gotten everything figured out. Then, he turns right back around the following spring and hits:

.200/.222/.341/.563, with 3 doubles, 3 homers, 7 RBI, and about 50,000 runners left on base in 30 games

This is his fifth year in the Major Leagues. Here are his career numbers: .243/.305/.365. You have to wonder, if he doesn’t turn it around and I mean SOON, if this is his last chance with the Mariners. I can’t imagine we go into 2016 with him as a starter, but I have to wonder if we go into 2016 with him even on the roster at all!

Does this make him the most disappointing draft pick in franchise history? Well, let’s take a little look back. Too soon to talk about Alex Jackson (2014) or D.J. Peterson (2013). Mike Zunino was the 3rd overall pick in 2012; he’s been less than ideal at the plate. But, he’s still probably too young (and at least hits for SOME power) to make a judgment. Danny Hultzen was the 2nd overall pick in 2011 and has been severely injured for much of his career of late, so he has to be in the running, right? Except, the thing is, he’s a pitcher, and the Mariners have been fairly flush with pitching in recent years since he was selected. Hard to call him as much of a disappointment when we haven’t really needed to rely on him for anything.

Maybe we should take a look at what it means to be disappointing in a sports setting. For starters, I feel like you have to be a first round pick. These are the guys who – in theory – should be the closest to helping your team right away. In baseball, you expect these guys to be on the fast track, to hit the Major Leagues in 2-4 years, depending on their development. In football and basketball, depending on how deep your roster is, you expect these guys to contribute immediately, and in some instances even start for you immediately. So, when they fail to live up to those reasonable expectations, they’re disappointments. Obviously, the higher you draft them, the bigger the disappointments.

Going back, here are the rest of the Mariners’ top-10 draft picks through the years:

2006 – Brandon Morrow (5)
2005 – Jeff Clement (3)
1995 – Jose Cruz Jr (3)
1993 – Alex Rodriguez (1)
1990 – Marc Newfield (6)
1989 – Roger Salkeld (3)
1987 – Ken Griffey Jr (1)
1986 – Patrick Lennon (8)
1985 – Mike Campbell (7)
1984 – Bill Swift (2)
1983 – Darrel Akerfelds (7)
1981 – Mike Moore (1)
1980 – Darnell Coles (6)
1979 – Al Chambers (1)
1978 – Tito Nanni (6)

Sure, Brandon Morrow was disappointing, but for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, we should’ve taken UW’s Tim Lincecum instead. Second, we kept dicking around with Morrow by starting off his career in the bullpen. Third, we probably gave up on him and traded him away too soon (for Brandon League, who was an all-around disaster). Ackley still has Morrow beat in the disappointment department.

Clement was disappointing, but I think we were all more disappointed in our front office moreso than the player. That 2005 draft was FUCKING STACKED; 6 of the first 7 players selected have been All Stars (with Clement being the only dud), and 8 of the first 12 have played in an All Star Game. Bill Bavasi at his finest!

Jose Cruz Jr was solid when he was a Mariner, then we traded him away for two shitty relievers, then he got really bad, and then he was gone. Again, more disappointed in our front office for giving up on a quality prospect too soon.

A-Rod was disappointing because he was a greedy scumbag & soon-to-be cheater. But, his level of play on the field was unmatched, so there’s no way I’m calling him a bigger disappointment than Ackley (also, yes, I would have taken the money and played for the Rangers, so eat me, he’s still a greedy fuck).

Anyone before A-Rod is out of my wheelhouse (aside from Griffey, of course, who was the single greatest draft pick in franchise history). You can post your reasons in the comments as to why you think some of those old timers might be more disappointing than Dustin Ackley, but for now, I’m saying this with full confidence: Dustin Ackley is the most disappointing draft pick in Mariners history.

***

Let’s jump right into the Seattle Seahawks. Who is their most disappointing first round draft pick? Again, I’ll run through all the top 10 picks (even though I think we all have a pretty good idea who this is going to end up being):

2010 – Russell Okung (6)
2009 – Aaron Curry (4)
2001 – Koren Robinson (9)
1997 – Shawn Springs (3)
1997 – Walter Jones (6)
1995 – Joey Galloway (8)
1994 – Sam Adams (8)
1993 – Rick Mirer (2)
1992 – Ray Roberts (10)
1990 – Cortez Kennedy (3)
1983 – Curt Warner (3)
1982 – Jeff Bryant (6)
1981 – Kenny Easley (4)
1980 – Jacob Green (10)
1978 – Keith Simpson (9)
1976 – Steve Niehaus (2)

Not gonna lie to you, I’m not up on my Steve Niehaus or Keith Simpson knowledge, but let’s just assume they’re not the most disappointing draft picks in Seahawks history. Green, Easley, and Bryant were mainstays of a dominant defense in the 1980s, so count them out. Curt Warner was only disappointing because we didn’t use that pick to try to trade up for John Elway (or trade back to take one of the other amazing quarterbacks in that class). Curt Warner the player was dynamic when he was healthy.

Cortez and Walter Jones are probably tied for the very best draft picks in Seahawks history, as both are Hall of Famers. Ray Roberts was a solid offensive lineman in his career (if not specifically his Seahawks career). Sam Adams was a fringe Hall of Famer for the Ravens, but had a nice and long career elsewhere (including Seattle for a few productive seasons). Joey Galloway and Shawn Springs were studs who had their best years away from the northwest (but, again, were no slouches in a Seahawks uniform). Okung has been a steady starter at left tackle (and a fine Walter Jones replacement when healthy) since he was a rookie.

For me, the disappointments come down to Aaron Curry, Koren Robinson, and Rick Mirer. But, before I talk about this trio of Top 10 turds, let’s take a look at some honorable mentions from a little lower in the first round.

Lawrence Jackson was taken 28th overall. He was supposed to come in and breathe life into our tepid pass rush. Instead, he joined our team in 2008 as the franchise bottomed out, let Mike Holmgren walk, and eventually ushered in the Era of Good Feelings that has been Pete Carroll and John Schneider. Oh yeah, and Jackson stunk the whole while and it wasn’t long before Carroll traded him away for scraps.

In 2006, the Seahawks selected Kelly Jennings with the 31st overall pick. Coming off of our first-ever Super Bowl appearance, we were in desperate need of shoring up our secondary. Kelly Jennings was no help in this regard. While it’s hard to expect super-greatness out of your 31st overall draft pick, he was still a member of this team – and a starter at that – for far too long, leading us to suffer a barrage of long bombs over his outstretched midget arms.

In 2002, the Seahawks selected Jerramy Stevens 28th overall. That’s all I need to say about this wretch.

In the 1987 NFL Supplemental Draft, the Seahawks took Brian Bosworth with what amounts to a first round draft pick. He was subsequently given the largest contract in franchise history, and rewarded us with lackluster and often embarrassing play. He was a better action movie star than a football player, and that’s REALLY not saying much.

But, let’s get back to our Top 3 disappointments from before. I’m scratching off Koren Robinson, for starters. Yes, he had the talent to be elite – and pissed it all away with addiction – but one has to wonder if he was even the right fit for this type of offense to begin with. And, while he wasn’t spectacular, he was far from dreadful. I’m giving him a pass.

This boils down to Aaron Curry and Rick Mirer. You may recall with Aaron Curry, we were coming off of our dreadful 2008 season. With the 4th overall pick, people were screaming for the Seahawks to take a quarterback. With Matthew Stafford already off the board, and Mark Sanchez sitting there, the Seahawks opted to do the prudent thing: take the “safest pick in the draft”. Aaron Curry was an outside linebacker and – depending on who you talked to – was some mix of Lawrence Taylor and Derrick Thomas. We were going to pair him with Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill to have the best linebacking corps in the entire NFL.

Instead, he was slow to pick up the game mentally, slow to pick up the intricacies of his position, and just all-around slow on the field. He did practically nothing for us, wound up being traded for a low-round draft pick, and was replaced on the field by a mid-round draft pick. But, considering the Seahawks were bottoming out all over the roster, it’s hard to peg all of our troubles on Curry. Even if he’d panned out as we’d hoped, he still would have been just a good player on a crappy team.

Rick Mirer, on the other hand, was supposed to save us. In 1992, the Seahawks shared the worst record in the NFL with the New England Patriots at 2-14. Thanks to our victory over those very same Patriots, they held the tie-breaker for the #1 overall pick. As a result, they got to select the best quarterback of that class – Wazzu’s Drew Bledsoe – while we had to settle for Rick Mirer out of Notre Dame.

Mirer came out of the gate on fire, breaking many rookie quarterback records that would eventually be broken by Peyton Manning (the only time Rick Mirer should ever be mentioned in the same sentence as Peyton Manning, by the way). He quickly either regressed or simply failed to develop, but either way, he SUUUUUUCKED thereafter. Adding fuel to the fire of his disappointment, I recently was referred to this article (hat tip to Dave Krieg’s Strike Beard) that revealed there was an outside shot of the Seahawks getting Steve Young from the 49ers for the rights to allow the 49ers to draft Mirer to be Joe Montana’s heir apparent. Isn’t THAT just the ultimate kick to the groin? Doesn’t that make Rick Mirer the ultimate slam dunk most disappointing draft pick in Seahawks history?

I want to say yes, but RACING PAST THE PACK ON THE OUTSIDE, OUR DARK-HORSE CONTENDER: 1991’s 16th overall draft pick, Dan McGwire!

What’s the meaning of THIS? Well, I’ll tell you: the Seahawks brass was very high on the 6’8 towering suckferno, while Chuck Knox – easily our greatest head coach in franchise history to that point – wanted to select a little guy out of Southern Mississippi, the 6’2 Brett Favre.

Dan McGwire started all of five games with the Seahawks in four seasons. Chuck Knox left the franchise after 1991, right before everything bottomed out in 1992. As stated above, the Seahawks would use the #2 overall pick on yet another quarterback two years later, and the franchise overall would founder in mediocrity for a decade until Mike Holmgren turned things around. All of this MAY have been avoided, if Chuck Knox had his way and we’d drafted a certain hall of famer who owns or owned just about every passing record in NFL history.

Most disappointing draft pick? For all those reasons, I’m going with Dan McGwire by a nose over Rick Mirer (bottom line: at least Mirer had ONE good season).

***

In an effort to prevent this post from going beyond the 5,000 word mark, I’m going to give the abbreviated version of the Sonics’ most disappointing draft pick: it doesn’t compare to what the Seahawks and Mariners have stacked against them. Purely for disappointment’s sake, it’s disappointing to see Scottie Pippen’s name as our #5 overall draft pick in 1987 (he would be traded to the Bulls and replaced by Olden Polynice, but again, this isn’t a post about trades), but at least Pippen’s departure eventually led to Shawn Kemp’s rise.

The fact of the matter is, the Sonics – for the most part, until the last decade or so – were a well-run and successful organization (crazy, I know). Our first round draft picks were generally low in the round, if we had them at all. The high ones tended to pan out (Payton, #2 overall; McKey, #9 overall; McDaniel, #4 overall). And, since once again I’m not all that familiar with all the old-timers, I’m not even going to go there and you can hash it out in the comments.

In an effort to save time, let’s just say the most disappointing draft pick in Seattle Sonics history is Robert Swift (#12 overall in 2004, when we were in DESPERATE need of a big man; he would be the first of three consecutive first round draft pick duds – Petro & Sene to follow – that would ultimately cost this franchise dearly). Now, let’s call it a day and everyone agree that Robert Swift is nowhere NEAR as disappointing as Dan McGwire or Dustin Ackley.

***

So, where do we land on all of this? Is Dustin Ackley the most disappointing draft pick in Seattle sports history?

Welp, I’ve already discussed the cases for both he and Dan McGwire. With Ackley, we’re still talking about an Incomplete. We don’t know how his career is going to pan out, even if we have a pretty solid idea that he’s going to continue to be terrible. With McGwire, we know how it panned out, and we know what we could’ve had with Favre. McGwire FEELS like the more disappointing of the two, but before we give him the crown, we have to speculate on the ol’ butterfly effect.

Dan McGwire kept us from drafting Brett Favre (or, rather, the organization choosing to go with him over Knox’s preferred choice). That’s the case, right in a nutshell. So, we have to wonder: how good could the Seahawks have been with Brett Favre at the helm?

Would Chuck Knox have stayed on past 1991? Would the team have drafted appropriately around him? It’s pretty safe to say that Brett Favre would’ve been great wherever he went, but how much of his career was molded by Mike Holmgren? I wouldn’t call the Packers a bastion of a franchise when they traded for him, so it’s not like the team was great and then Favre appeared as the last piece of the puzzle. He grew with that franchise to be one of the best in football. Could that have rubbed off on the Seahawks? Or, would our franchise bumbling have prevented Favre from being his very best?

I would argue that the Seahawks would’ve been rock solid throughout the 90s. Much better than the string of .500 (or near-.500) records we were saddled with. There was always talent on those 90s Seahawks teams, but we were ALWAYS missing out on the quarterback position. Warren Moon had a couple good years, but that was at the tail end of his career, and he kept getting injured when we needed him most. Every other quarterback we had in the 90s was terrible.

With Favre in Seattle, does Mike Holmgren become MIKE HOLMGREN in Green Bay? Does he find another quarterback to mold and turn that franchise around? I think it’s safe to say, Favre in Seattle means we never hire Holmgren later. And, you have to wonder if we have the group in place that we have now.

Does Favre turn this franchise around before Ken Behring sells the team to Paul Allen? Does he have a change of heart and decide to keep the Seahawks and keep them in Seattle? Do we have what is now CenturyLink Field? If Paul Allen isn’t the owner, we certainly don’t have our stadium in its current form; I’m sure it would look much different now. And, I have to wonder if we have the Sounders either, for what it’s worth.

Ultimately, does Brett Favre lead the Seahawks to be world champions? THAT, I’m not totally sure about. It’s nice to think so, but you have to wonder how it happens. How long does Chuck Knox stick around if we give him the quarterback he wants? He was already getting up there in age by 1991; how many years does he stick around after that? And, who becomes his replacement? I would argue Tom Flores was the worst head coach we’ve ever had in Seahawks history; I don’t think he wins even with the mid-90s Cowboys. Does he still replace Knox? Do we grab someone else?

The point is: there are SO MANY “what if’s” that go into the Brett Favre as a Seahawk scenario. And, what I would argue is most important in all of this is: if Brett Favre never leads us to a world championship (whether or not it’s his fault, or the fault of ownership, or just the players we saddled him with), then he is 100% not worth the trouble. The way things actually happened – with the Seahawks winning it all in the 2013 season – made a lot of the previous suffering worth it. That’s all that matters.

Now, if Brett Favre coming here means the Seahawks would’ve been a dynasty much earlier, then I think he is worth it and I think Dan McGwire wins the title of most disappointing draft pick. Even if it means the team we have now (in this hypothetical universe) looks nothing like the team we have in our real, actual universe.

Ultimately, my gut tells me that even if the Seahawks had taken Brett Favre, and he’d turned into the franchise quarterback we waited SO LONG to get, I kinda doubt we ever would’ve won it all with him. Too many variables. We likely wouldn’t have had the type of hall of fame coaching staff that Holmgren assembled in Green Bay, and we likely wouldn’t have gotten the type of championship talent to put around Favre like they were able to do under Ron Wolf. Let’s face it, for a lot of reasons, the Seahawks were just plain broken as a franchise in the 1990s. It took all the tumult, the disaster of an owner, the mis-management of the general manager, the bumbling of the coaching staff, and the underperforming of the players to lead to Paul Allen, Mike Holmgren 2.0, Matt Hasselbeck and our success in the 2000s, the bottoming out in 2008 & 2009, and the foresight to bring in Pete Carroll and pairing him with John Schneider to finally turn this organization into a world-class sports franchise.

You COULD say that Dan McGwire was a big part in giving us all of this! And, I must say, as a fan in my 30s, I’m certainly appreciating all of our good fortune MUCH more than I would have been as a fan in my teens in the 1990s.

Yes, Dustin Ackley is a disappointment. Yes, there were truly great players taken after him (including the aforementioned Mike Trout). And yes, he’s been a big part of all the sucking the Mariners have been a part of in his time in the Major Leagues. He’s been given MANY more chances to start and play a huge part on this team, and he’s done JUST enough to keep earning those chances even though he’s never broken through to make good on all of his promise. Dan McGwire, for as enraging as his selection was, was never much more than a longshot prospect. His college career wasn’t some amazing slam dunk; we were picking him based on his size, his strong arm, and the fact that he “looked” like a starting quarterback. These types of quarterbacks are selected in the first round every single year, and these types of quarterbacks end up falling well short of their potential every single year.

#2 overall Major League Baseball draft picks are supposed to be different. At #2, you know you have the opportunity to draft that year’s very best pitcher or hitter. In our case, we took the “best hitter”. That guy isn’t supposed to continuously be as mediocre as Ackley has been. Either he’s great, or he gets injured and we all sit around wondering “what if”. Ackley has been nothing if not healthy, and he’s been sometimes intriguing, but most of all he’s been a complete failure.

The Mariners missed and missed big when they selected Dustin Ackley. He not only prevented us from taking a better hitter, but he’s actively hurting us now with his sucking. If he panned out – as the so-called best hitter in his class should have – we’d be looking at a monster lineup with him paired with Cano, Cruz, and Seager. Instead, he’s one of our ever-growing cadre of black holes. We can’t sit him, because we don’t have anyone better (depending on your opinion of Justin Ruggiano), we can’t trade him because we’ll get nothing in return, and we can’t cut him because – as I said before – we don’t have anyone better. The bottom line in all of this is, while the Mariners are improving as a franchise, there are too many holes on this team for it to be a championship contender. Dustin Ackley is a huge reason why there are as many holes as there are. And, for that reason, I’m calling him our most disappointing draft pick in Seattle sports history.

#1 – Russell Wilson

Posted on September 4, 2013 by dunderhead99

To see the full list of the 30 most important Seahawks in 2013, click here.

Isn’t it obvious by now why Russell Wilson would be #1 on this list? Let’s face it, the Trent Dilfer Ravens only comes around MAYBE once a generation. To win in this league, you need a stud quarterback. Russell Wilson is that stud.

It’s going to get a little homo-erotic in here going forward, so you may want to hit the Escape button now while you still can.

How do I love Russell Wilson? Let me count the ways!

The Seattle Seahawks have drafted 17 quarterbacks in their history. These are those quarterbacks:

Russell Wilson
Mike Teel *
David Greene *
Seneca Wallace
Jeff Kelly *
Josh Booty *
Brock Huard
Rick Mirer
Dan McGwire
John Gromos *
Sammy Garza
David Norrie
John Conner *
Frank Seurer
Sam Adkins
Steve Myer *
Chris Rowland *

Seven of those guys never completed a pass for the Seahawks and possibly for the NFL (denoted by *). Of the remaining ten, only three of them appeared in more than 13 games in their careers. Seneca Wallace was a 4th round pick that Mike Holmgren turned into a serviceable backup for seven seasons. Rick Mirer was a #2 overall draft pick who stuck around the league for 11 years, but was a huge disappointment in the process.

I think it’s safe to say that Russell Wilson is the greatest quarterback the Seattle Seahawks have ever drafted. And it’s not even close.

His rookie numbers were insane. 252 for 393 (64.1%) for 3,118 yards, 26 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. Also, he ran for 489 yards on 94 carries for a 5.2 yards per attempt average and 4 touchdowns. He had 5 game-winning drives en route to an 11-5 regular season record. He took this team across the country in his first-ever playoff game and came away victorious against the Redskins. Then, he took this team BACK across the country in his second-ever playoff game and came within 30 seconds of victory against the Falcons. He led the world’s best offense for the last 8 games of the regular season. And did I mention he was a rookie? He was a rookie. A ROOKIE!

Not only that, but he was a third round draft pick. As a third round pick, he either matched the play or outright out-played the likes of Andrew Luck and RGIII (the top two picks of the draft). Not only that, but as a rookie third rounder, Russell Wilson out-played most of the LEAGUE. His 100.0 passer rating ranked fourth in the NFL last year (behind Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and RGIII). Not bad for a kid who wasn’t given total control of the offense for a good chunk of his early season.

People will try to argue that it’s not sustainable. That he’s due to regress. That he surely couldn’t match the numbers of his rookie campaign, let alone beat them. Haters gonna hate, after all. Of course, a lot of those same haters were saying how his numbers were going to hit the wall towards the end of last season too. He had a stretch of four straight games without an interception and right around that time, a prominent NFL writer for Grantland wrote something about how he surely wouldn’t keep that up. I guess that’s technically true, but for his last 10 games (including the 2 playoff games), Wilson had only 3 interceptions, and one of them came at the end of the Atlanta game when the Falcons caught a hail mary to seal it.

I’m here to argue, homer that I am, that not only can Russell Wilson match his rookie output, but he can BEAT that rookie output! Why do I think that?

Because he’s talented. There are guys like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Matt Ryan, and Drew Brees all in the top tier in the NFL.

In that very next tier, you’ve got guys like Russell Wilson, RGIII, Andrew Luck, Colin Kaepernick, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Matthew Stafford. Some of those guys in the second tier – like Flacco, Manning, Roethlisberger, and Stafford – are as good as they’re ever going to get. Those guys most likely will NEVER be in the top tier. That doesn’t mean they’re bad. Some of them are Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, for crying out loud! But, they won’t approach the level of play the top five guys have shown.

However, guys like Wilson, Luck, RGIII, and Kaep have a chance. In Wilson’s case, I think we will be able to put him in that top tier within the first five years of him being in the league.

He can make all the throws. He throws as well on the run as he does in the pocket. He’s got a strong arm and he’s accurate. Most importantly, he avoids turnovers. Even someone like Drew Brees can’t say that.

The main reason why I think Russell Wilson will be better in 2013 is his make up. He’s the hardest working player on the team. He spent the whole off-season getting guys together and working on plays. He’s also the most studious player on the team. He goes through hours of tape like Peyton Manning goes through hours of tape. His level of play won’t go down because he won’t LET it go down. He’s always striving to get better every day. With that kind of attitude, and with the actions to back up his words, Russell Wilson is the complete package we’ve been looking for since the Seahawks first entered this league.

He will go down as the best quarterback in franchise history. And he will make it in the Hall of Fame. Because he will have won the most Super Bowls of any quarterback in the history of the world.

Russell Wilson, will you go to the prom with me?

The Worst People In Seattle Sports History, Part II

Posted on May 11, 2013 by dunderhead99

We continue from yesterday’s post on all the hated Mariners.

Seattle Seahawks

I’m not gonna lie to you, this one was a lot tougher. Aside from a couple of very obvious names, not a lot of Seahawks immediately jump out as annoying. Unlike baseball – where your every move is on display for everyone watching, so if you screw up regularly, you WILL be noticed – it’s a lot easier to mask your mistakes.

Of course, that doesn’t make a ton of sense, because look at all the mediocrity, especially in the late 80s and all of the 90s. But, that’s just it: sure, they were mediocre, but it’s hard to point to just a couple of guys as the primary culprits. When you have a bad football team, it’s because the whole TEAM is bad. Not a lot of people really stood out, at least to me. Maybe you have ideas that I don’t.

At the top of this list, now and forever, is Ken Behring. He bought the team from the Nordstrom’s in 1988 for a scant (in today’s dollars) $80 million. Ironically, at the time, in an article in the Spokesman-Review, he called out then-Mariners owner George Argyros who was threatening to move baseball out of Seattle, saying:

I sure don’t agree with anything he does. I’m not sure he even wants to win. I’m not sure he knows where he wants to be. We’re far, far apart in what we’re trying to accomplish.

Bold words from a guy who – less than eight years later – was looking to move the team to Los Angeles. It’s telling, actually, in that same Spokesman-Review article, he was asked about the possibility of moving the Seahawks to Oakland (after Al Davis had moved the Raiders down to L.A.). Seemingly, there was no trust for this man from the get-go, which would seem to jibe with the family’s feelings that Seattle never really embraced Ken Behring.

Ken Behring’s reign started with a division championship in 1988, but then everything fell apart, with the nadir being the 1992 season and its 2-14 record. After that first year, no Behring-led team would finish better than third in the AFC West. Finally, in February of 1996 (a decade before this team would play in its first Super Bowl), Behring ordered the moving vans and drove the equipment to Los Angeles to play where the old Rams called home prior to moving to St. Louis.

Luckily for Seattle, two things existed: a local government willing to work to keep the team here, and a sports league that was unwilling to see yet-another team change cities (after the Raiders moved back to Oakland, the Rams moved to St. Louis, the Oilers moved to Tennessee, and the Browns moved to Baltimore). Gary Locke partnered with Paul Allen to help the billionaire purchase the team, and we passed measures to build what is now CenturyLink Field.

Ken Behring is one of the all-time pricks, no doubt about it. But, this isn’t exactly the same thing as Clay Bennett buying the Sonics and moving them to OKC. Even though the trust might not have been there from the beginning, I think that comes with the territory. Whenever a non-local guy (or group) comes in to buy your team, you’re wary of the possibility of them moving. But, to be honest, there was no inkling back in the late 80s about Behring having an agenda. Besides, the lease on the Kingdome ran through 2005. When the Sonics were purchased, the lease on KeyArena was much MUCH closer to running out.

However, similarities they share include an unwillingness to make things work here. That means, the instant the going got tough, Ken Behring was on the horn to Los Angeles. Which leads me to believe this L.A. move was a longer time coming than simply a snap reaction to the county rejecting $150 million in Kingdome improvements. He also, let’s be honest, didn’t do everything he could to put a winning product on the field. In that same Spokesman-Review article, Behring is quoted as saying:

We want the coach and the general manager to run the team.

This was in response to a question about having minority owners, with Behring taking the stance that local minority owners would try to butt into the affairs of the team. Which is FUNNY, because in 1991, with the 16th overall pick, the Seattle Seahawks selected one Dan McGwire out of San Diego State. It’s reported that then-head coach Chuck Knox really wanted to draft Brett Favre. But, Ken “We Want The Coach And The General Manager To Run The Team” Behring stuck his big snout into the proceedings and forced the team to draft the all-time greatest bust in Seahawks history. Brett Favre went on to be a Super Bowl winning Hall of Famer. Dan McGwire went on to suck dick for crack rock (allegedly).

Ken Behring was no NFL owner. He was a fucking tourist. He was a sexual harassing Good Time Charlie who enjoyed the power and prestige of owning an NFL franchise, but he wasn’t really an NFL fan. This quote, from his own son, then-team president David Behring, is pretty telling:

“I had tremendous passion for the game,” said David Behring, who opposed his father’s decision to move the franchise. “I felt that I was getting along with many of the people, and I was trying to push my father into background so as not to be a target. But the ’92 season really turned him off from football. When you’re 2-14, you’re criticized daily.”

Bring a little adversity into his life, and look at what he does! Tries to take his prestige and power to a city that placates people with prestige and power. Seattle doesn’t give a FUCK about your money or your status (at least, not compared to L.A.). So, while he might not have been a snake in the grass a la Clay Bennett, we’re still talking about an inevitability. Seattle wouldn’t embrace him as being the King Sultan of the World, so he wouldn’t embrace Seattle. It’s as simple as that. You want to know why people from the Pacific Northwest tend to badmouth people from California? Look no further than the example set by Ken Behring.

***

The other big name on this list for the Seahawks is Tim Ruskell. Ruskell was brought in to replace Bob Whitsitt (who himself had supplanted Mike Holmgren in 2003 as the primary general manager). This move was a no-brainer, because Whitsitt (originally hired by Paul Allen when he purchased the Seahawks to be the president of the team) was a basketball guy (also being Allen’s right hand with the Trail Blazers down in Portland). Ruskell immediately selected Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill in the 2005 draft and the team went on to lose in the Super Bowl that very same year.

We thought, “All right! We got something here!” Holmgren was largely believed to be spread thin by doing double duty as head coach and GM; most people here thought his GM duties suffered. He needed a football guy to handle player personnel, and after one season, Ruskell seemed to be the magic man.

But, Ruskell immediately lost all his goodwill by dicking around with Steve Hutchinson. He also traded away a first round pick for Deion Branch (an insane price for a sub-par receiver), drafted an endless string of busts (Kelly Jennings, Lawrence Jackson, Josh Wilson, Aaron Curry), and signed an endless string of useless, old players (T.J. Duckett, Julius Jones, T.J. Houshmandzadeh). By the time he was forced to resign after the 2009 season, it was pretty clear: that Super Bowl team was Mike Holmgren’s team. Holmgren brought in the bulk of the core that got us to the promised land. Ruskell just caught on at the right time and bought himself five seasons even though he was a complete moron.

After those two guys, I’m finding it hard to find Seahawks I hate. I think there’s a reason for that: in baseball, it’s a lot easier to hate the player, because all of his money is guaranteed. If you sign a huge contract in baseball, then you go on to suck, you’re stuck with him! In football, if they sign big and suck, you just cut him and save yourself the cap space.

The first player that comes to mind for me is Jerramy Stevens. I can’t STAND that guy. He was a first round pick at tight end that was supposed to lock down the position for a decade or more. But, of course, he came in and was middling at best. He was NOT the dynamic game-changer you expect out of a first round pick. Then, he ran his stupid fucking bitch mouth in the week leading up to Super Bowl XL, and THEN he proceeded to drop crucial, game-changing balls IN the Super Bowl!

I blame the refs for a lot when it comes to losing that game, but a VERY close #2 is Jerramy Stevens. I hope that game haunts him until his dying breath. Jerramy Stevens is the primary reason why you should NEVER draft a home town guy who is known to have legal issues in college. If a guy has legal issues in college (drugs, drunk driving, date rape, plowing your vehicle into nursing homes), that means he’s a fucking idiot. It also means he has fucking idiot friends. When drafting a fucking idiot, you’ve got to get him as far away from his fucking idiot friends as possible, otherwise he’s never going to mature to the level you need him to.

After Stevens, I guess I’d throw Rick Mirer on this list. This one’s a stretch, though, because he’s been gone so long. And, when we traded him, we got a pretty hefty haul from the Bears in draft picks, so that mitigated a lot of the hate. Nevertheless, he was a #2 overall draft pick after the Seahawks went 2-14. A #2 overall drafted quarterback is SUPPOSED to be a franchise guy you can build your team around. Mirer went on to have a decent rookie season, then made absolutely no strides whatsoever, and was a constant disappointment every season thereafter.

I don’t know what to tell you after those four guys. The Boz? There were quite a few Seattleites who didn’t like the guy. He was KIND OF an overrated pile of shit who Bo Jackson made his bitch. Then, he was an action movie star? Then he was irrelevant? I dunno, man. I read his autobiography and I find him entertaining. And now? Now, I just kinda feel sorry for him. Not only is he a punchline for his “movie career”, but he’s a punchline for the thing he ostensibly did the best: play linebacker. I don’t know what the Boz is doing with his life right now, but if it doesn’t involve soliciting gentlemen to pull out their dollar bills while playing “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and asking that we all “give it up for Roxie”, then he has REALLY missed his life’s calling.

I know there are still some hard feelings about the whole Hutch debacle, with Seahawks fans soured on him for his dickish attitude following his signing with Minnesota, but truth be told I put 100% of the blame on Ruskell. First, for not getting the long-term extension done, and second, for not using the Franchise Tag (but, rather, the Transitional Tag, which doesn’t come with nearly the penalty for other teams when they poach your players).

In fact, it’s hard to hate any of the free agent or draft busts either, because we know the person who was in charge. Were Housh and Deion Branch irritating? Sure they were! It’s always irritating when you’re confronted with aging stars who think they’re better than they are (or better than they were five years prior). But, they didn’t ask to come here. They were brought over on the whim of a GM who was willing to over-pay so this team would be JUST good enough to be mediocre (but not so bad as to be blown up and start a true rebuilding process, which this team so desperately needed as it aged into retirement).

Since this post is also longer than I had anticipated, I’ll be making this one a three-parter. God help us all.

The Greatest Seahawks First Round Draft Picks Of All Time

Posted on April 26, 2013 by dunderhead99

In honor of the Seattle Seahawks not having a draft pick last night, I decided to go through all the drafts and rank all the best Seahawks first rounders.

I don’t want to shock you, but there are Hall of Famers on this list! There are some Ring of Honor folks, there are some good players, there are some guys still playing, and there are busts. A whole lotta busts. And not-busts who are just sorta sub-par. You get the idea.

I didn’t totally discredit what these players may have done once they left the team, but I weighted heavily their time in Seattle. For the record, there are people I’ve never heard of on this list, as well as people I don’t remember very well (because who remembers offensive linemen from teams they followed when they were five?), so don’t expect the most thorough of analysis. Just sit back and bask at how much you disagree with my order.

The Hall of Famers

1. Walter Jones (1997, #6 overall)
2. Cortez Kennedy (1990, #3 overall)

You know me (no, you don’t), I love me some Tez. That guy was right behind Steve Largent for my Most Favorite Football Player Of All Time pretty much since he won Defensive Player of the Year back in ~~the day~~ 1992. But, Walter Jones is Walter Jones. Cortez Kennedy is a Hall of Famer, but Walter Jones might be the best who has ever played his position. He’s a legend. And if you don’t think he’s a legend, go look up some stories about his off-season training regimen. How many guys do you know who go around pulling cars to get in football shape?

The Ring of Honor-ers

3. Shaun Alexander (2000, #19 overall)
4. Jacob Green (1980, #10 overall)
5. Kenny Easley (1981, #4 overall)

Shaun Alexander is the best running back to ever put on a Seahawks uniform. He was an MVP, he set the single-season touchdown record (until it was broken by LDT the very next year), and he led us to a Super Bowl. THAT’S why he’s ranked ahead of the other two. Jacob Green is the career sacks leader in team history. And Kenny Easley is one of the greatest safeties in league history. Had he not been injured, he would’ve been in the Hall of Fame. Easily.

Next-Tier, Really Good Players

6. Steve Hutchinson (2001, #17 overall)
7. Marcus Trufant (2003, #11 overall)
8. Jeff Bryant (1982, #6 overall)
9. John L. Williams (1986, #15 overall)
10. Curt Warner (1983, #3 overall)
11. Joey Galloway (1995, #8 overall)
12. Earl Thomas (2010, #14 overall)

I can’t imagine Hutch ever making the Ring of Honor, simply because he played elsewhere for longer than he played for Seattle. Though, had Ruskell not fucked things up so royally, Hutch would’ve been on the inside track and probably would’ve landed at #3 on this list. Good going, stupid.

People are kind of down on Marcus Trufant because he’s old and washed up, but you have to remember that for most of a decade he was a quality starter for this team. Right out of college! Remember all those shitty secondaries that were run out there by Ruskell? Well, don’t lump Trufant into that group, because he was the only thing holding the back end of our defense together!

Jeff Bryant was another quality starter for our defensive line through most of the 80s. He and Jacob Green really tormented opposing quarterbacks. Bryant lands at 3rd all time in sacks.

We can argue John L. Williams and Curt Warner’s spots on this list until the cows come home. Curt Warner had 6,705 rushing hards, good for third on the Seahawks career rushing list. And that’s WITH all his injuries that drastically shortened his career! I mean, let’s face it, Warner is in the Ring of Honor and Williams is not. Do the Seahawks know more about this than I do? Probably, but here’s my rationale for putting John L. ahead of Curt. Yes, Mr. Warner is third all time rushing. But, John L. is fourth, with 4,579 rushing yards. And don’t forget, John L. Williams was one of those hybrid fullbacks who could run you the ball, could block for you, and who caught a lot of passes. 471 to be precise, for 4,151 yards (6th all time). If we’re talking total yardage, then we’re talking John L. Williams – 8,730, Curt Warner – 8,172. Advantage: me.

Joey Galloway was a firecracker when he hit the scene in 1995. He would’ve been a surefire Ring of Honor guy too had he been willing to play ball and not hold out on Holmgren. We ended up trading him, and he ended up having a nice little career for himself. Injuries prevented him from really breaking some records, but his longevity was impressive considering what he was forced to play through.

Earl Thomas is a curious choice to have so high on this list, considering he has only played three seasons. But, I’m giving him a little extra juice because I fully expect him to be great. Also, not for nothing, but you’ll see why he’s so high as we get to the rest of the names.

Good Guys With Better Careers After Leaving Seattle

13. Pete Kendall (1996, #21 overall)
14. Sam Adams (1994, #8 overall)
15. Shawn Springs (1997, #3 overall)

Pete Kendall played his first five years in Seattle and played pretty well along our line. He was never a Pro Bowl guy, but paired with Walter Jones, he really helped improve this team’s running game. Then again, who knows? Maybe Walter Jones just made him look better than he really was. Either way, he went on to Arizona and seemed to improve. I think his three years as a Cardinal were better than any he had as a Seahawk. He would go on to finish his career with the Jets and Redskins, playing many more years as a non-Seahawk than a Seahawk.

To be honest, I remember Sam Adams having all the potential in the world when we drafted him. I also remember him largely being a disappointment. I wouldn’t call him that; I like the guy. I’ve got one of his old practice jerseys signed by him; I think he’s great. But, you can’t deny the fact that he really stepped his game up once he left Seattle and started playing for Baltimore. He was a Pro Bowler both seasons he was in a Ravens uniform. And, oh yeah, he helped them win a Super Bowl with one of the best defenses of all time.

Shawn Springs had a couple of good seasons with the Seahawks, but he wasn’t worthy of hanging on to for the duration of his career. I seem to remember him having a bigger impact with the Redskins than with the Seahawks, even if the numbers don’t necessarily bare that out.

Linemen! (Both offensive & defensive, so leave me alone)

16. Tony Woods (1987, #18 overall)
17. Russell Okung (2010, #6 overall)
18. Steve August (1977, #14 overall)
19. Andy Heck (1989, #15 overall)
20. Ray Roberts (1992, #10 overall)

Right here, we’re talking about guys who were starters, who were fairly productive, but who were never superstars. The exception might be Okung, who has a lot of room to climb this list as long as he stays healthy and keeps his production up.

Old Guys I Know Next-To-Nothing About

21. Terry Taylor (1984, #22 overall)
22. Keith Simpson (1978, #9 overall)
23. Manu Tuiasosopo (1979, #18 overall)

I went and looked them up on Pro Football Reference and I STILL have no idea who these people are or what they did for the Seahawks. I know what Manu did for the Huskies, he fathered one of the greatest Husky quarterbacks of all time. Good for you!

Disappointments

24. Anthony Simmons (1998, #15 overall)
25. Koren Robinson (2001, #9 overall)
26. Rick Mirer (1993, #2 overall)
27. Chris Spencer (2005, #26 overall)
28. Kelly Jennings (2006, #31 overall)
29. Jerramy Stevens (2002, #28 overall)

These are players who flashed some potential, but ultimately didn’t live up to the hype. I always remember liking Simmons, and lamenting he couldn’t stay on the field. I also forgot that he was a first round pick. We all know about Koren Robinson. He’s the guy who drank and drugged his way out of the league, right? I don’t really care enough to look it up to confirm; all I know is that he was supposed to be a stud receiver for us and he wasn’t. Mirer was the pick just AFTER Drew Bledsoe, who was drafted by the Patriots (who were also 2-14 in 1992). Why was he drafted by the Patriots? Because the Seahawks BEAT the Patriots, thereby giving the tie-breaker for the #1 overall pick to New England. Spencer was supposed to lock down the center position for us for a decade; he did not. Jennings was a joke, but he started for us because this team was incapable of finding anyone better. The less said about Jerramy Stevens the better (because I hate that guy).

Hopefully NOT A Bust

30. Bruce Irvin (2012, #15 overall)

He had a fine rookie season with 8 sacks. Is that the best we’re ever going to get from him? Or, will he explode for double-digits pretty soon? It could go either way and it wouldn’t surprise me. He could be a fast-climber on this list too if he plays his cards right.

A Supplemental Bust

31. Brian Bosworth (1987 Supplemental Draft, #28.5 overall)

This guy, QUITE the character. If you have a few hours to spare, I’d recommend reading his biography. If you like The Boz, then I’d recommend NOT watching that 30 for 30 featuring Bo Jackson. Because The Boz looks like The Bitch.

Injury Plagued

32. Steve Niehaus (1976, #2 overall)
33. Marcus Tubbs (2004, #23 overall)
34. James Carpenter (2011, #25 overall)

The Seahawks entered the league at the same time as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs received the #1 overall pick. That, and a lot of weird happenstance, has resulted in the Seahawks never having the #1 overall pick. Ever. Steve Niehaus was the first player drafted in franchise history and he was largely injured for his brief career. Tubbs was a force on the inside during our Super Bowl run. But, he got injured and never recovered. He played in 29 games over 3 seasons and was out of the league. Carpenter is a 2-year vet and he has finished both of his first two seasons on the IR. Not a good sign. Here’s to 2013 being where he turns his career around.

The Huge Busts

35. Lawrence Jackson (2008, #28 overall)
36. Aaron Curry (2009, #4 overall)
37. Lamar King (1999, #22 overall)
38. Chris McIntosh (2000, #22 overall)

L0-Jack was a microcosm of the Tim Ruskell years. His inability to draft quality players in the lower half of the first round doomed this team. Many other teams are able to find starters in the second and/or third rounds. It would stand to reason, then, that you SHOULD be able to find a starter with the 28th overall pick in the first round. Think again.

Because of all the shitty drafting, the Seahawks found themselves the very next year with the #4 overall pick. Aaron Curry was the “safest” pick on the board and we all looked at him to dominate for years to come. He did nothing of the sort and ultimately got Ruskell’s ass fired.

Mike Holmgren’s first couple drafts resulted in a couple of terrible players. Lamar King was just a bad pick any way you slice it. McIntosh was supposed to be good, but he couldn’t stay healthy (and was soon replaced by Steve Hutchinson). Put them together, and you wonder how the Seahawks ever turned their fortunes around under Holmgren.

The Very Worst First Round Draft Pick In Seahawks History

39. Dan McGwire (1991, #16 overall)

This doesn’t need a whole lot of explanation. Rest assured, it’s picks like this and Mirer two years later that doomed this franchise to the wilderness for the entirety of the 1990s.

Ranking The Quarterbacks The Seahawks Have Drafted, All Time

Posted on September 13, 2012 by dunderhead99

Is Russell Wilson already the greatest quarterback the Seahawks have ever drafted?

I don’t have the link handy, but I was reading a Seahawks blog and he mentioned how Russell Wilson will likely go down as the greatest quarterback the Seahawks have ever drafted. For a split second (in just the amount of time it took to finish the man’s sentence), I thought that was NUTS, but of course the best QBs we’ve had haven’t been drafted by this team. Zorn was claimed off of waivers, Krieg was an undrafted free agent, Hasselbeck came via trade … hell, even Warren Moon was a free agent signing.

So, I decided to go back, draft-by-draft, and see just who the Seahawks HAVE drafted. It’s a real Who’s Who of Utter Crap, let me tell you. Here’s the list, in order:

Steve Myer (1976 4th rounder, 93rd overall) – played in 12 games (started 4) over 3 seasons. He was 83 of 160 for 851 yards, 6 TDs, 14 INTs, and a 43.5 rating.
Chris Rowland (1976 17th rounder, 461 overall) – did not play in the NFL.
Sam Adkins (1977 10th rounder, 254 overall) – played in 11 games (started 0) over 4 seasons. He was 17 of 39 for 232 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs, and a 40.7 rating.
John Conner (1985 10th rounder, 277 overall) – did not play in the NFL.
David Norrie (1986 11th rounder, 291 overall) – did not play for the Seahawks. Played in 2 games overall, compiled a 48.4 rating.
Sammy Garza (1987 8th rounder, 216 overall) – did not play for the Seahawks. Played in 2 games overall, compiled a 63.1 rating.
John Gromos (1990 12th rounder, 312 overall) – did not play in the NFL.
Dan McGwire (1991 1st rounder, 16th overall) – played in 5 seasons, 4 with the Seahawks. He played in 12 games (started 5) and had 1 other game with the Dolphins where he attempted one pass (incomplete). He was 74 of 147 for 745 yards, 2 TDs, 6 INTs, and a 52.7 rating with the Seahawks.
Rick Mirer (1993 1st rounder, 2 overall) – played in 8 seasons, 4 with the Seahawks. He played in 55 games (started 51) and played in 25 other games with 4 other teams (starting 17). He was 814 of 1,523 for 9,094 yards, 41 TDs, 56 INTs, and a 65.2 rating with the Seahawks.
Brock Huard (1999 3rd rounder, 77 overall) – played in 3 seasons, 2 with the Seahawks. He played in 6 games (started 4) and played in 2 other games with the Colts where he was 2 of 3 for 22 yards. He was 58 of 104 for 667 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, and a 80.1 rating with the Seahawks.
Josh Booty (2001 6th rounder, 172 overall) – did not play in the NFL.
Jeff Kelly (2002 7th rounder, 232 overall) – played in 1 game (started 0) over 1 season. He did not attempt a pass.
Seneca Wallace (2003 4th rounder, 110 overall) – played in 7 seasons, 5 with the Seahawks. He played in 48 games (started 14) and played in 14 other games with Cleveland (starting 7). He was 333 of 556 for 3,547 yards, 25 TDs, 14 INTs, and a 83.1 rating with the Seahawks.
David Greene (2005 3rd rounder, 85 overall) – played in 4 seasons, 2 with the Seahawks. He did not play in any games.
Mike Teel (2009 6th rounder, 178 overall) – played in 2 seasons, 1 with the Seahawks. He did not play in any games.
Russell Wilson (2012 3rd rounder, 75 overall) – has played in 1 game. He was 18 for 34 for 153 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, and a 62.5 rating.

OK, so after one game, Wilson isn’t exactly the BEST Seahawks quarterback they ever drafted, but it’s remarkable how many of them he’s better than RIGHT NOW. 6 of the 15 other quarterbacks on the list never played a down in a regular season game. One other never attempted a pass in his only game. Two others never played for the Seahawks (and only played 2 games apiece). That’s 9 of 15 right there!

I think you can easily rank him higher than Myer and Adkins right this very second, so that’s 11 of 15. And I’m putting him above McGwire because he’s a dickhole! That’s 12!

Next on the list is Huard. I think Wilson is at LEAST one game, maybe two, away from passing him. Then you’ve got Rick Mirer, who you probably have to give his due just because he won rookie of the year in 1993. But boy, did his career take a fucking NOSEDIVE.

At the top of the list, I don’t care what anyone says, I’m putting Seneca Wallace! That’s a downright decent QB rating he has! He was always steady as a backup and if he were on a team with quarterback issues as a younger man (before he went to Cleveland as an injury-prone vet), he could have pushed for a starting job. I have no doubt about it.

So, Wilson currently ranks #4 on the All Time Seahawks Drafted Quarterbacks List after one game. Pathetic? You betcha. By the end of the year, he might even be #1. Unthinkably pathetic? No doubt about it.

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Ranking The Quarterbacks The Seahawks Have Drafted, All Time