The Seahawks disastrous history of acquiring offensive stars

The Julius Jones problem

Two years after acquiring Branch, the Tim Ruskell regime looked to free agency to add another big name to the fold: Julius Jones. After Shaun Alexander’s sudden exit, the Seahawks needed a new workhorse at tailback and saw Jones as a worthy heir.

Jones posted back-to-back 1,200 yard seasons for the Cowboys in 2005 and 2006 before faltering in his contract year of 2007. The Seahawks felt certain he would bounce back in a major way, but they were sorely mistaken.

Through his two years of work in Seattle, Jones failed to break 700 yards in either year. He often appeared slow and was a non-factor in most games. At times, he was simply outshined by his platoon partner Mo Morris.

Jones was cut in 2010 after the Seahawks traded for Marshawn Lynch and that worked out pretty well.

The T.J. Houshman-something problem

Despite both Jones and Branch being clear disappointments during this time, Ruskell and co. didn’t get the memo. In Ruskell’s final year as the Seahawks’ general manager, he threw a five-year, $40 million contract to the man, the meme, the legend T.J. Houshma-zilly. I mean, T.J. Houshma-zod. Uh… T.J. Whosyamomma?

Sorry, I’ll get this.

Right, T.J. Houshmandzadeh. That one. Once again, it didn’t work out.

The Seahawks were in a state of flux when Houshmandzadeh arrived. Mike Holmgren had just retired and Jim Mora, Jr. was taking over. The team had some talent, but were coming off a 4-12 season filled with injuries.

Houshmandzadeh wasn’t an awful player for the Seahawks, but his 2009 season was unimpressive considering the money he was making. After the major organizational shakeup, Houshmandzadeh did survive into the PCJS era… temporarily.

Just a month into the 2010 season, Houshmandzadeh was cut by Carroll and Schneider and his career continued to spiral downward.

Do you see the trend inside of this trend? It’s trend-ception, if you will.