Top 10 Seahawk Round 1 Draft Busts

As the NFL draft gets ever closer, I thought it would be fun to look back at some Seahawks draft history, both the good and the bad. Lets start off with the bad. Below you’ll find the ten worst first round picks in Seahawk’s history, at least according to me.

You’ll find a a lot of Tim Ruskell and Mike Holmgren draft picks on here. Both were atrocious when it came to the draft, and thus they combined for 7 of the 10 players on this list.

10) Chris Spencer, 2005, 26th overall 

The first of many Tim Ruskell picks on this list. It’s tough to label a 6 year starter as a bust, but thats what we have with Spencer. Spencer never mastered reads and the line adjustments that centers are supposed to make, leading to too many broken plays and injured QBs. Spencer could have benefitted greatly by a move to guard, but he he didn’t fit the guard prototype of Mike Holmgren. Instead, he continued to play and get his QBs killed until the Seahawks finally had enough and drafted Max Unger.

9) Kelly Jennings, 2006, 31st overall

Another Tim Ruskell pick, Jennings might be one of the most hated of all the ex-Seahawks. Jennings’s lack of height and his inability to make plays on the ball even when he was in the  proper position was source on constant frustration for Seahawk fans. Despite multiple attempts to replace him by the front office, Jennings kept finding himself on the field just enough to anger Seahawks fans anew each week.

8) Chris McIntosh, 2000, 22nd Overall

The first Holmgren era pick to make this list, McIntosh lasted just 2 full seasons in the NFL, only one disastrous one as a regular starter.

7) Koren Robinson, 2001, 9th overall

One year later, Holmgren wasted another first round pick on an immature WR with no work ethic or drive to succeed. Robinson had all the physical skills to be a much better player than he ended up being, but had the Seahawks not taken him he likely would have fallen out of the first round due to character concerns. Turns out the concerns were warranted.

6) Lawrence Jackson, 2008, 28th overall 

Yet another Tim Ruskell pick. Jackson was drafted to bring some size and athleticism to a DE position that had just lost a long time great player, Michael Sinclair. Instead, they got a player who was too big and not fast enough to be a great pass rusher, yet still too small to be a great run stopper. He lasted just 2 seasons with the team.

5) Lamar King, 1999, 22nd overall

This is Mike Holmgren’s version of Lawrence Jackson. Holmgren traded down twice, skipping over better and more accomplished players, to select King out of Saginaw Valley St. Holmgren sold King to the fans as a 300 lb. DE who was big enough to be a monster run stopper and quick enough to get to the QB. It turned out that he wasn’t able to do either thing with any effectiveness.

4) Brian Bosworth, 1987, Supplemental

Bosworth was a supplemental draft pick, but he Seahawks forfeited a first round pick to get him so it counts. The Boz was a stand out LB who actually gave the Seahawks 2 great seasons before injuries, which were allegedly created because of massive steroid use, ended his career. Added to the “Bust Factor” was that the Seahawks actually switched to a 3-4 defense in order to fully take advantage of Bosworth’s skills; a move that greatly hurt the performance of many players around him.

3) Aaron Curry, 2009, 4th overall

It’s tough to find anyone who didn’t like the Aaron Curry pick when it was made. Curry is a freakishly good athlete for his position and he should have been one of the best players at his position in the entire league. Instead, Curry had extremely poor football instincts and just couldn’t get any production out of his athletic ability. Making matters worse was a tendency to miss tackles on the rare occasion when he was actually in position to make a play. when he finally got replaced in the starting lineup, he reacted by playing with as little energy as you’ll ever see from an NFL player in a game, forcing the Seahawks to ship him off to the Raiders for almost nothing.

2) Rick Mirer, 1993, 2nd overall

When you’re picking 2nd overall, you better get a player that makes it to multiple pro-bowls. If that player is a QB, then it better be someone who can lead your franchise to multiple playoff berths over the next decade. Rick Mirer simply wasn’t that guy. After a decent rookie year which won him a rookie of the year award, Mirer never developed further. At the end of his 2nd season, he was still making the same stupid mistakes he made as a rookie. Luckily, the Seahawks realized that Mirer was never going to be a quality QB, and shipped him off to Chicago for a first round pick before the rest of the league caught on to just how bad Mirer really was.

1) Dan McGwire, 1991, 16th overall pick 

As bad as the Rick Mirer pick was, the only reason the Seahawks made it, and were in a position to make that pick was because of this one 2 years earlier. McGwire was so bad that he couldn’t even get on the field. During the 2-14 1992 season that gave preceeded the Rick Mirer pick, The Seahawks chose to go with Stan Gelbegh at QB over McGwire because McGwire looked completely lost even at practice. McGwire appeared in just 13 games over his 2 year career, completing just 50% of his passes, and had 3 times as many interceptions and touchdowns.

One of the things that really drives me nuts about the McGwire pick, is that it was pretty much universally hated at the time it was made. Reports at the time said that many teams had him rated a late round pick. Complicating things further is that another quarterback was still on the board, who was universally thought of as an excellent QB prospect with a chance at being truly great. That QB, was Brett Favre.