Alternate Universe Time: A Pair Of Jets Whom Fans Wanted The Seahawks To Draft

As I watch film on the Jets this afternoon (even though I probably wont publish this until tomorrow morning), I find myself thinking about how much different the Seahawks might look like right now had the fans had their way on a couple draft days. There’s a couple current Jets that many Seahawks were salivating over, and were pretty angry when the Seahawks took someone else over them.

For starters, many fans really wanted the Seahawks to select Quinton Coples when the Seahawks picked Bruce Irvin back in April. At the time, I didn’t think Coples fit the Seahawks scheme, and watching the film of him playing so far this season, I still don’t think so.

In this defense, Coples would be 5-technique DE in the base defense, and a 3-technique against the pass. That means he’d basically be a lesser version of Red Bryant against the run, and then move inside to Alan Branch’s spot vs the pass. Since the Seahawks had already re-signed Bryan and signed Jason Jones to be the inside pass rusher, the pick would have made no sense. Coples really does belong in a 3-4 defense like that one that the Jets utilize.

Plus, in that case, the Seahawks would still need a situational pass rusher. Bruce Irvin would likely have been taken by the Jets one pick later as many reports have said they were planning on doing.

The other player that Seahawk fans have been upset about passing over was Mark Sanchez. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard or read someone ranting about how the Seahawks passed on Sachez in favor of Aaron Curry, I’d probably be in the same tax bracket as Paul Allen.

Curry was an absolute bust, so people being unhappy with his selection is natural. The Seahawks QB situation has been a concern since 2008 as well, so I understand the connection. The problem is that Sanchez has been just as big of a bust as Curry. The general public is just now realizing what has been apparent to scouts for years now, Mark Sanchez isn’t an NFL starter. Picking Sanchez over Curry would not have made the Seahawks better.

The problem with that connection is that it completely misses the quality players in the draft that were also available at the time and would have actually made a difference for the Seahawks. Players like BJ Raji, Brian Cushing, or Brian Orakpo were also available and would have been good draft value where the Seahawks were picking.

For the record, I was high on the Aaron Curry pick. He was a freakish athlete for his position (still is, in spite his knee problems). Drafting Curry was supposed to be drafting Brian Urlacher. In a year when there was very little top shelf talent, how could you not support that? Well, besides to complete lack of football instincts thing, and the poor tackling, and the horrible attitude.

The Curry debacle was actually a good thing for me. It was that mistake that pushed me over the edge, and convinced me that I needed to learn how to evaluate players as a scout. Had Curry not been a bust, I probably would still be in the dark in terms of my ability to evaluate players. So at least some good came from him being so very bad.