4 players Seattle Seahawks gave up on too early

Former Seahawks center Max Unger

As part of one of the worst trades in Seahawks history, Seattle decided to get greedy and add tight end Jimmy Graham in a trade from the New Orleans Saints in return for center Max Unger. This, of course, becasically undid lots of things Seattle had previously done well and confirmed the offense would be more Russell Wilson moving forward than Marshawn Lynch. Seattle just didn't seem to know how to handle the success of 2013 followed by the Super Bowl failure of the 2014 season.

Graham wasn't a bad guy, but he was a bad blocker. Graham was a glorified wide receiver in a tight end body. Seattle didn't throw much to their tight ends, so all of a sudden adding a tight end capable of catching a high volume of passes seemed odd. Would Seattle even know what to do with Graham? The ulitmate answer turned out to be no.

Meanwhile, while the Seahawks offensive line wasn't the best in the league, it also wasn't as bad as it would be without Unger. Unger was a formidable veteran presence - smart and strong - in the middle of offensive line. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2012 and was a Pro Bowler in 2013. He had an injury-filled 2014, but he still was only 28 years old when Seattle traded him. After going to the Saints, Unger would start every game but one over the next four seasons and make the Pro Bowl again in 2018.

As it turned out, the Unger for Graham (and a couple of draft picks involved) didn't turn out well for either team. New Orleans' offense was never the same as it lost a huge target for Drew Brees and Seattle is still truly looking for Unger's replacement. Maybe rookie Olu Oluwatimi will be the very good center for many seasons Seattle has needed, but there would have been a nine-year break between Unger and the next good long-term center for the Seahawks.

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