Five Best Players in Seahawks History
By Lee Vowell
A list of the greatest in Seattle’s football annals
There have been four players who went into the NFL Hall of Fame as Seahawks: Steve Largent, Kenny Easley, Walter Jones and Cortez Kennedy. Each of these players could be the best Seahawk of all-time. But there are some very good players on the Seahawks current team that could merit Hall of Fame induction at some point in the future. Are any of these players better than the four already in? Here’s our list of the five best Seattle Seahawks to ever don the uniform.
5. Kenny Easley
Easley might be higher on this list but his career was cut short by injury. He played only seven years of professional football at safety. Easley was known as The Enforcer prior to Kam Chancellor. In fact, Chancellor borrowed Easley’s nickname for himself in honor of Easley. Easley was fast and hit hard. Basically, Easley was a hybrid of Earl Thomas and Chancellor and would have fit extremely well in today’s game.
Easley was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1984, a year he intercepted 10 passes. He was All-NFL three times in seven years. Pretty good.
4. Earl Thomas
Thomas, like Easley, has played for seven seasons at safety. Thomas should be able to play several more, however. A four-time first team All-Pro, Thomas is the best player on one of the NFL’s best teams. Fans saw what losing Thomas meant to the defense last year. The team gave up 16.2 points-per-game with Thomas in 11 games. In five without Thomas, the Seahawks gave up 20.8, or almost five more points-a-game. With Thomas, the Seahawks are an historically great defense. Without him, still good but not even top three in the league. That is the difference Thomas makes.
If Thomas continues his dominance, and there is no reason he should not, he will be inducted into Canton after his career is over.
3. Steve Largent
Largent was a great receiver on mostly bad teams. When Largent retired he held the NFL records for most receptions (819), receiving touchdowns (100) and receiving yards (13,089). Originally drafted by the Houston Oilers, they saw no substance in Largent and traded him to Seattle. With Seattle, Largent helped transform the NFL into a much more pass-heavy league. Not overly fast or big, but quick and smart, Largent made himself into a Hall of Fame player. He was inducted in 1995.
2. Cortez Kennedy
Kennedy was a beast. Playing his entire career in Seattle, Kennedy had 45.5 sacks between 1991 and 1996. This while playing an interior defensive line position. Kennedy was simply unblockable many times. In 1992, Kennedy had 14 sacks and 92 tackles and forced four fumbles. He was named the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Kennedy joined Canton in 2012.
1. Walter Jones
Jones might be the best offensive tackle to ever play the game. Jones was four times a first team All-NFL member. He made nine Pro Bowls. He teamed with guard Steve Hutchinson to form arguably the best left-side combo in NFL history. Jones helped running back Shaun Alexander rush for 27 touchdowns in 2005. The Seahawks made their first Super Bowl in 2005 and would not have had Jones had not been playing.
Now just imagine if Russell Wilson had Jones on his line…
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