September 18, 2011; Pittsburgh,PA, USA: Pittsburgh Steelers running back Issac Redman (33) carries the ball against Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry (left) during the first quarter at Heinz Field. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

One of the best things of the John Schneider era has been his success in developing the team through the draft. That hasn’t always been the case for the Seattle Seahawks, who have a long history of failed draft picks. With the draft beginning tomorrow evening, I thought it would be fun to look at some the most extreme draft mistakes in Seahawks history.

Here’s my list for the worst 5 draft picks in Seattle Seahawks history?

5) Robert Barr, OT, 1996, 77th overall (3rd round)

The Seahawks were looking for a RT to replace the aging Howard Ballad, and used their 3rd round pick to do so. They thought they were getting a road grader they could count on for years. Instead they got a player who didn’t want to do the things it took to make it in the NFL. Barr lasted on the roster for 1 year and never saw the field. By the time the following season started, he was out of the league for good.

4) David Greene, QB, 2005, 85th overall (3rd round)

Seattle’s 3 round pick, he was supposed to be the player who took over as the backup QB and allowed the Seahawks to use Seneca Wallace as a playmaker all over the field. Instead, Greene looked so bad in camp that Holmgren refused to risk that Wallace might get hurt. Greene was out of the league a year later.

3) Antoine Palepoi, DE, 2002, 60th overall (2nd round)

In 2 and a half years in Seattle, Palepoi recorded just 1 sack. He was supposed to be the pass rushing specialist that the team needed, but instead became the embodiment of Mike Homgren’s inability to evaluate and draft defensive players.

2) Aaron Curry, LB, 2008, 4th overall (pictured)

Chances are that you already know the Arron Curry story. The Seahawks already had 3 good and expensive LB, yet GM Tim Ruskell decided to spend the 4th overall pick on another LB for reasons only he knows.

Curry was an freakish athlete who was tremendously productive in college and looked like he could be a perennial all-pro. Instead, the Seahawks got a head case who couldn’t tackle and loved to make excuses. Curry’s lack of football instincts were a constant frustration for both coaches and fans. After just 2 and half seasons, the Seahawks shipped him off to Oakland.

1) Dan McGgwire, QB, 1991, 16th overall

Its hard to believe that there was a pick worse than Aaron Curry, but there is. Dan McGwire was the franchise’s 1st high draft pick QB. Tall, strong-armed He was supposed to provide the team with it’s first high-talent QB after 15 years of being led by undrafted free agents. His acquisition led to the team dropping Dave Krieg a year later.

Instead, what the team got was a colossal flop. Even after a year on team learning on the job behind Krieg, McGwire proved to be absolutely clueless. He was unable to win the job in the 1992 training camp, and when the offense turned out to be one of the worst in NFL history, his insertion into the lineup only made it worse.

In the end, just 2 years after wasting a 1st round pick on McGwire, the team was forced to take another first round QB to try and right the mistake. His ineptness led to a level of desperation that led to another mistake.

Dishonorable Mentions: Rick Mirer, Ike Charlton, Kris Richard, Owen Gill

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.

I still can't believe how bad Aaron Curry was. Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

The rule is that it takes 3 years to evaluate a draft. Well, the 2009 class has finished 3 seasons, so lets take a look back and see how Tim Ruskell’s final draft turned out.

Round 1, Pick 4: OLB Aaron Curry – Curry was a complete bust. After a decent start, he only managed to get worse the longer he was in Seattle. The Seahawks finally shipped him off to Oakland this past season just to get him off the roster.

Round 2, Pick 49: C Max Unger - Unger is the best player taken by the Seahawks in 2009. He’s always been a good pass blocker, but this this past season he developed into a good looking run blocker as well. By any measure, he’s one of the top 10 centers in the NFL.

Round 3, Pick 91, WR Deon Butler – Butler has the speed, but lack of height and not great speed in and out of his breaks has led to rather poor production. While there’s still a chance he can break out and have a great 2012 season, the odds are stacked against him. Butler is looking more and more like a bust at this point.

Round 6, Pick 178, QB Mike Teel – Teel never looked like he belonged on an NFL roster. In both preseasons that he was with the team, Teel looked lost and clueless. He never appeared in a regular season game, and that’s a good thing.

Round 7, Pick 245, DB Courtney Greene - Greene managed to play in 30 games as a special teams player over a 2 year career. He just never developed into a player that deserved to be on the field with the defense.

Round 7, Pick 247, DE Nick Reed - Reed became a fan favorite because of his endless motor, but his lack of skill and athleticism means he was never going to be much of an NFL player. He’ll go to camp with Tampa in 2012, his 4th team in 3 years in the league.

Round 7, Pick 248, TE Cameron Morrah - Despite being a 7th round pick, Morrah was the 2nd best player picked in this draft. Morrah still can’t block like a TE should be able to, but he’s got great speed and good hands and is a threat in the passing game. Morrah will most likely end up as the third TE with the Seahawks in 2012.

Overall, this was a horrible draft. Only Unger has been worthy of consistent playing time. Butler and Morrah are likely to be around the league for a few years, even if it ends up that it’s not with Seattle. The rest of the picks are worthy of a CFL team. Picking Aaron Curry at #4 is inexcusable, you simply can’t get so little out of such a high pick. I think we can all agree that the Seahawks are better off without Tim Ruskell.

Grade: F

2009 Redraft: (players the Seahawks sould have taken)

Round 1: NT BJ Raji

Round 2: G/C Max Unger

Round 3: DB Jerraud Power

Round 6: WR Brandon Gibson

Round 7: TE/FB Dan Grankowski

Round 7: RB Rashad Jennings

Round 7: K Ryan Succop

Lofa Tatupu will now be chasing down ball carriers for the Falcons. Credit: Mike DiNovo-US PRESSWIRE

The Seahawks cut Tatupu just before last season after failing to convince him to take a substantial pay cut. Tatupu made the pro-bowl 3 times with the Seahawk. He was arguably the most valuable player on the Seahawk defense during his time in Seattle.

Unfortunately, injuries have robbed Tatupu of much of the speed he once had. Already considered undersized and a bit slow for his position when coming out of college, there is legitimate reason to doubt whether Tatupu will ever be able to contribute to an NFL defense again.

In other news, it seems that the new Oakland Raider regime is just as capable of making dubious decisions as the former Raider leaders. Aaron Curry announced via his twitter account that he restructured his contract and will remain with the Raiders. Clearly I wont be picking them to make the playoff this season.

Bradford is a hybrid HB/FB, known for being willing to block, and for running people over when given a chance to carry the ball, and is a standout on special teams. Sounds familiar? That’s same description that could be used to describe Michael Robinson.

The Seahawks have other roster needs, like a LB to replace Aaron Curry, or a TE to help cover for the injured Zach Miller. There’s simply no reason to keep two players like Robinson and Bradford at the same time. It’s easy to come to the conclusion Bradford’s addition is likely to be followed shortly by Robinson’s subtraction.

I could be way off base here, (It’s not like it would be the first time) but it seems pretty easy to connect the dots on this one.

As great as that victory was, it is not the reason I consider myself the happiest man on earth today.  Something happened this week that has made me even more optimistic for the future of this football team.  Somehow, some way, the team has managed to purge itself of one of the biggest mistakes in team history.  The Seahawks traded LB Aaron Curry to the Oakland Raiders.  Hallelujah!!

Curry’s days in Seattle were numbered.  The team restructured his contract before this season to better facilitate his departure.  It was evident that Curry was not part of the Seahawks’ future, and everyone knew it.  However, it seemed unlikely that the team would be able to trade Curry (and his contract) this season.  (more…)

The contract restructuring is key to this getting done. Curry is guaranteed 5 million this season, and the New team would have to pay 11/16 of that. Unlike in baseball, the team’s cannot send money along with a player to help cover the salary. By restructuring the deal, Seahawks and Curry can switch some (or most) of that salary to a “signing bonus” and pay him it now, thus reducing the amount owed to Curry by his new team, and making it easier to facilitate the trade.

No idea where he’s being traded, but the Eagles and Falcons would be the obvious places I’d expect.

I’ll update this this post as more information comes in.

Update – 12:42 PM – It would appear that I was wrong on my guess as to the team Seattle is trading with. The Oakland Raiders appear to be the team that is trading for Curry. The Raiders play a 4-3 defense, so I’m not sure that this is a good fit for Curry. At this point, I’d say that Curry is best suited to be an inside linebacker on a 3-4 defense.

Update – 12:52 PM – Not 2 seconds after I read that Curry to Oakland was conformed, I got rumors that the Jets and Patriots were both interested too. Unsure if that means anything at this point, or if the Oakland trade is still a done deal. We’ll see. I do know that the Media group has been assembled so an announcement is coming. I also know that the team order them pizza so it might still be a wait.

Update – 1:17 PM – Trade is officially to Oakland. Seahawks will get 2 draft picks, one in 2012 and one in 2013. We don not yet know what picks they are, or if they are conditional picks (meaning that the pick the Seahawks get is dependent on how well he plays)

I’m not one of the Curry haters that seem to fill the Seahawks blogosphere these days. It isn’t his fault that an inept GM drafted him 4th overall instead of selecting any number of better players. I do, though, think that it is at least partially his fault that he didn’t develop into a player that is better than what he currently is.

Curry is big. He’s strong. He’s fast. For a linebacker, he’s a freakish athlete. Actually, lets drop the “for a linebacker” qualifier. The dude is simply a freakish athlete. What he isn’t is a natural football player. He isn’t a sure tackler. He doesn’t cover TEs and RBs nearly as well as he should be able to. He gets caught out of position way too often.

(more…)

Jackson's conservative play will not be enough for him to keep the job all season.

There’s really nothing nice to say about this entire game.  It was the first time the Hawks have been shutout since 2007, which happened to be in Pittsburg. I would have rather spent the day getting a pedicure with my grandma.  Wait.  That’s not bad enough… how about giving my grandma a pedicure?  Ya.  That about sums it up.

Offensive Line Grade: F

I refuse to give this line a passing grade until they can muster over 50 yards rushing in a game.  The fact is that they have barely managed that number the past 2 games gaining only 53 yards as a team.   Watching Marshawn Lynch hit the line of scrimmage reminded me of a line from a great comedian.

“I like tennis, but I will never be as good as the wall.”  –Mitch Hedburg

Ya get it?  Lynch is the ball?  The line of scrimmage is the wall?

It’s not so funny now.

At times the pass protection wasn’t terrible, but it was still pretty bad.  The fact is that it’s just a young line and will struggle this year.  I imagine the coaching staff knew what they were getting into and would label this line a work-in-progress.  Fans, on the other hand, are losing patience quickly.  My opinion is that we are just going to have to wait to see as the dice are still up in the air for all the O-line guys but 1.  This sure does blow if you have season tickets though, especially in the preseason.  Anybody need a pair to Arizona? (more…)

Leroy Hill is back to his old self again. Who would have thought?

MORON OF THE GAME:

Is Aaron Curry really that dumb?  Just because you still play like a rookie doesn’t mean you have to act like one.  This guy was supposed to be the “safest” pick in the draft, but here we are three years later, and Curry still looks bad, especially when he’s throwing helmets across the field.  I keep trying to find second and third chances for this guy, but I think I just ran out on Saturday. 

SURPRISE OF THE GAME:

Welcome back Leroy Hill.  He looked like his old self for the first time in two seasons.  Remember how tough and effective this guy was in 2005, his rookie season.  He single handedly shut down Carolina’s premiere receiver, Steve Smith, in the NCF Championship game and was just as much a part of that season as any other superstar on the team.  Hill was doing the same thing this game except that now it was Adrian Peterson.  I love watching Hill play football when he loves the game.  He is a run stopping machine who plays with a violent streak.  He runs at warp 9 and finds great angles of pursuit.  When he is committed to football, he is a Pro-Bowl type player.  Unfortunately when he’s not committed to football, he’s an injury with narcolepsy and a big salary.  Watch out for Hill this season.  I think he’s on the comeback trail.  He’ll be 28 next month, and only played in a single game last year, so there’s plenty left in the tank.  I really want to believe in the motive of Hill as well.  Leroy Hill’s motive, experience,and health have never been better going into this season, and I hope to see him become as leader on this defense as the season progresses.  *The Heater is still my favorite though. (more…)

Still trying to earn every cent of his rookie contract.

A  Production.

It sounds like things in the NFL might be up and running again in the next few days. And all I have to say is…

… don’t break your arms patting your collective selves on the back for getting this deal done because you still look bad.

I can’t honestly tell you that I won’t watch as a result of everything that happened, however, it does leave a bit of a black eye. When it does come back again, I don’t think, for me at least, it will have the same allure it once did for a while.

All that being said, my favorite part about this new deal is the rookie salary. Oh how I wish this was in place when we drafted A Curry. Even if it was he would still be overpaid, but just not by as much. (more…)

So how much of this is true?

To be honest, I don’t know.  But what I do know is that the Seahawks have yet to organize any type of practice like this.  At first this is a bit frustrating, but when you think about it, which player is a big enough leader on this team to do something like that?  Earl Thomas and Russell Okung are too young, Aaron Curry isn’t respected enough, Lofa Tatupu is still recovering from knee surgery, and Charlie Whitehurst is nowhere near leader enough to start the ball rolling on something like this.

If you think about it, this has Hasselbeck written all over it.  Say what you want about his declining numbers and lack of consistency in recent years or even his age, but one thing you cannot question is the effort or the character.

I love the fact that he is the only unsigned free agent who is, supposedly, planning team workouts for a team he doesn’t currently play for.  I know he is not a fan favorite.  I am just as guilty as the next fan for raking him over the coals at various times during the last few seasons, however, it is times and situations like this one that I remember what I always liked most about Matt:  He likes to win more than he likes to get paid.

If there is one thing I know about the NFL, it is not to trust anything anybody says until the ink is on the paper.  Such is the case with the Carson Palmer rumors as well as Kevin Kolb, however, I can’t help but think this bodes very well for Hasselbeck concerning his future in Seattle.

Is the sky really falling in the NFL?

Maybe.

Last Monday (a week and a half ago) a federal appeals court ruled that the NFL’s lockout remain in place. The next hearing for that case is June 25. All three of the judges who ruled on Monday’s decision were appointed by former Presidents of the United States… who have nothing better to do… during an economic meltdown… than to try to alleviate the pressure between the rich guys and the really rich guys, so the person who actually pays for the product can see it. Ridiculous.

The sound has always been there. The gentle flutter of the money machines counting each $100 bill. 24 hours a day. 7 Days a week. Since the last work stoppage in 1987. It’s like a quiet fan on a hot summer day. Always there but never noticed.

It’s easy to hear now that the roar of the crowd has been evacuated.

That sound has got to drive the players crazy as they conjure up images of owners dancing through parades of money with top hats, canes, and monocles.

Remember that the average player makes just over 1 million a year, and plays for about 3 years. Before you snort with judgment and mumble, “must be nice,” remember how old these guys are and what you might have done with that money at that age. Now I’m sure guys like Aaron Curry, who received $34 million in guaranteed money, are going to be fine, but what about David Hawthorne? He made $298, 000 in 2008 and $391,240 in 2009. Although Hawthorne signed a recent extension for 1.38 million, he won’t see a dime until the lockout ends. And any games he misses due to the lockout will bring down his new contract number.

I know this is much more than most of us will ever make, but that’s not the point. Regardless of how much a person makes, they usually spend close to that amount by the time they are paid again. Sure you might have a few investments, a modest savings, and a retirement you can’t touch, but how many months could you go without a paycheck?

This is the big question. At what point do the majority of the players, who will need the money soon, begin to bend and eventually break.

If the players are unsuccessful in acquiring a portion of the the lucrative television contract signed by the owners, they will begin to splinter in their support of one another, and you better believe the owners are counting on this.

I’m not saying I am on the side of the players. I am on the side of football, however, if the players comeback begrudgingly as a result of losing this power struggle to the owners, I can’t help but think this will have some impact on the product.

Is the sky falling in the NFL?

No it’s not, and eventually it will all work out. My biggest fear at this point, however, is that it won’t be the same game I remember.

Bitter players and thankless owners sounds too much like baseball during its post strike years to me.

I gave it some thought, and realized what a daunting task this is. It’s like choosing the Academy Award for Best Picture when all the nominees are Ashton Kutcher movies. Still, someone has to be it, so here goes.

On the defensive line, no one in particular stood out. If I had to nominate a defensive lineman for MVP, it would have to be Red Bryant, since the run defense was stout while he was in the lineup, then completely fell apart after his season-ending injury. However, the title should go to someone who actually played every week.

Chris Clemons and Raheem Brock had significantly better than expected performances, yet neither was a consistent, dangerous threat. Brandon Mebane and Colin Cole both missed significant time with injuries. No one else made truly meaningful contributions.

Of the linebackers, only David Hawthorne even deserves mention for MVP. However, he didn’t have nearly the impact that he did the previous season. I believe a move to inside /middle linebacker is something that should be seriously considered. Lofa Tatupu had another subpar season, and Aaron Curry is coming perilously close to being one of the biggest busts in franchise history (and that’s saying something!). Will Herring proved to be a capable backup, but hardly worthy of being MVP. (more…)