Conspiracy Corner: An Introduction

Welcome to the debut edition of Conspiracy Corner. I am your host, Joseph Okabe. I am a huge believer in conspiracy theories, and this column is devoted to one involving the Seattle Seahawks.

I am of the opinion that the Seahawks decided several months ago to enact a plan to rebuild the franchise at the expense of the 2011 season. Every decision the team has made, from the draft to free agency, was done with the intention of building a foundation for the franchise that the team can build upon going forward from 2012.

You can guess where I’m going with this. I maintain that the intention of the brain trust in the Seahawks organization is to do as poorly as possible in 2011. I’m talking one, two, maybe three victories. Four or more would risk the main objective of the Seahawks this season – securing one of the first two picks in the 2012 NFL Draft.

The plan is to use that pick on a franchise quarterback. There are expected to be two available in the 2012 Draft – Stanford’s Andrew Luck and USC’s Matt Barkley. Both Luck and Barkley are perceived as better prospects than anyone in the 2011 Draft. Barkley wasn’t eligible, but if Luck had decided to turn professional early, he would be a Carolina Panther right now instead of Cam Newton.

This is why the Seahawks did not draft a quarterback in the last draft. I’m not just referring to passing on Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick in the first round. I’m also referring to passing on prospects like Ricky Stanzi and Nathan Enderle, who were available in the middle rounds.

Seahawks GM John Schneider has said several times that his intention is to draft a quarterback every year. So why didn’t the Seahawks take one in the last draft? Because they felt that taking one would amount to basically wasting a draft pick on a player who would never play, since Luck or Barkley will become the Seahawks’ starting quarterback the moment either is chosen. The Seahawks wound up wasting a 5th round pick anyway on Mark LeGree, but that’s another story.

The only question the Seahawks will be debating is who do they prefer, Luck or Barkley? Luck would seem to be the better prospect, but Barkley is a personal favorite of Head Coach Pete Carroll. The Seahawks desperately want to be in the position of choosing between the two, rather than having another team do worse this season and taking that choice away from them.

Whether you agree with my hypotheses or not, I hope you enjoy reading Conspiracy Corner. My intention is to write this column every Friday. However, you are in for a special treat this week. Either later today or tomorrow, I’ll post another edition of Conspiracy Corner focusing on the team’s current quarterback situation. I know, I’m too good to you guys.