5 biggest trade mistakes for the Seattle Seahawks in franchise history

No. 4 - Seahawks trade Ahmad Rashad for a fourth-round pick (1976)

Imagine a potential Seahawks wide receiver group that includes a young Steve Largent and a young Ahmad Rashad at the beginning of the franchise's inception. That is what Seattle should have had, but instead, Seattle got rid of Rashad near the end of training camp. Rashad wasn't exactly a nobody when he was picked up by the Seahawks as a free agent in 1976. He had played three seasons in the NFL before getting injured and missing all of 1975.

Part of Seattle's concern was Rashad's knee. And to be fair, Rashad did fail his physical after Seattle traded the receiver to the Minnesota Vikings, but Minnesota decided to hold on to Rashad after quarterback Fran Tarkenton went to management and begged them to hold on to Rashad. But Seattle didn't simply cut Rashad so his overall health wasn't the receiver they got rid of him. The team just wanted more draft picks.

Just before the 1976 season began, the Seahawks shipped Rashad to the Vikings in return for a fourth-round pick in the 1977 NFL draft. With that pick, Seattle chose Larry Seivers out of the University of Tennessee. Seivers wasn't a bad college receiver, but he would never play a down in the NFL. Seattle so quickly gave up on him that he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the 1977 season started. Then with the fourth-round choice Seattle got in return for Sievers, they gave to the Buffalo Bills for Seattle signing Rashad in 1976.

Rashad, meanwhile, would go on to make four Pro Bowls with the Vikings and have two 1,000-plus receiving seasons. He also scored 34 receiving touchdowns for the Vikings.