12th Man Rising
FanSided

5 worst first round draft picks in Seattle Seahawks history

By Lee Vowell

11 SEP 1994: SEATTLE QUARTERBACK RICK MIRER DELIVERS A PASS OVER A RUSHING GREG BIEKERT OF LOS ANGELES DURING THE SEAHAWKS 38-9 VICTORY OVER THE RAIDERS AT THE LOS ANGELES COLISEUM. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Stockman/ALLSPORT
11 SEP 1994: SEATTLE QUARTERBACK RICK MIRER DELIVERS A PASS OVER A RUSHING GREG BIEKERT OF LOS ANGELES DURING THE SEAHAWKS 38-9 VICTORY OVER THE RAIDERS AT THE LOS ANGELES COLISEUM. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Stockman/ALLSPORT /
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(Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images) /

Number 1: Seahawks 1991 draft, number 16 overall: Dan McGwire

So now for one of the worst first-round picks not only in Seahawks history but likely NFL history, especially as far as quarterbacks go. Rarely has anyone been given up on so quickly. McGwire was drafted in 1991 (mind you, this is just two years ahead of Mirer) and the hope was that he would take over for starter Dave Krieg by season two. Instead, McGwire was so horribly bad during the preseason prior to his second season that not only did the Seahawks pass on him being the starter, he actually was moved to third-string.

Part of the issue was that McGwire was too tall to be a good NFL quarterback. He was 6’8″ and a quarterback that tall takes longer to wind up to throw and most don’t have any ability to escape a pass rush. McGwire had decent arm strength, but no accuracy. In five career starts for Seattle, McGwire was sacked 20 times. And he completed just 74 of 147 passes with 2 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

Next. Top 50 Big Board for the Seahawks 2023 draft. dark

One issue that the McGwire legacy involves, and that isn’t McGwire’s fault really, is that he was taken 16th overall and Seattle could have – likely should have – chosen the guy who was taken number 33 overall in the 1991 draft. That player was named Brett Favre and he ended up having a pretty good career. Just imagine what Seattle could have been in the early 2000s with Favre as the quarterback.

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