We would talk about their worst quarterback ever, but he wasn't even close to the Seahawks own best rookie. For that matter, our guy finished second in the voting. But he was the top rookie in the AFC, so we'll take it.
The Seattle Seahawks have a pretty solid lineup of quarterbacks in their history. No matter how he left the organization, there's no doubt that Russell Wilson is the best to ever get behind center in Seattle.
Apologies to fans of Jim Zorn and Matt Hasselbeck, but DangeRuss threw over 100 touchdowns more than anyone else. And he's fifth on the all-time rushing list. Not for QBs, for all Seahawks. He may have been irritating, but he was the best.
On the opposite side of the spectrum of Seattle quarterbacks, we have - well, lesser talents. It's telling that two of the quarterbacks on the worst Seahawks team of all time are ranked so low, as they should be. Neither Stan Gelbaugh nor Kelly Stouffer had any business starting in the NFL. Yet both of them started for the historically awful 1992 team. And yet, neither was the worst of all.
Rick Mirer plummeted from great expectations to an afterthought for the Seahawks
I'll add right here that Mirer was not the worst QB ever to don the totemic osprey logo. That "honor" belongs to Dan McGwire, who Seattle took in the first round of the 1991 draft. Even though he was taken in the first round, no one truly expected much from him. Had he been completely immobile, it would have been better.
He wouldn't have run for negative four yards per carry in college. So let's put that to rest; Big Dan was the worst QB and worst draft pick ever for Seattle.
But the Seahawks learned very quickly just how hopeless it was to expect anything from McGwire. That wasn't the case at all with their first-round pick just two years later. Rick Mirer was the second overall pick in the draft.
The stinking Patriots, also 2-14 in 1992, got the first pick through bribery - I mean, strength of schedule. They took Drew Bledsoe. While not a Hall of Famer, he did throw for over 44,000 yards and 250 touchdowns. That was, oh, a bit more than what Rick Mirer accomplished.
The Seahawks' rookie got off to a good start, though. He started all 16 games, because why would you let Gelbaugh or McGwire on the field? He was 274 of 486 for 2,833 yards, 12 TDs, and 17 INTs. Before you mock those numbers, remember he took over a 2-14 team.
And don't forget that Peyton Manning led the league with 28 picks as a rookie. Troy Aikman threw for nine TDs and 18 INTs in his rookie season. So Mirer was more than okay.
In fact, he was good enough to come in second place in the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year voting. Jerome Bettis won for the Rams. Yeah, I forgot he wasn't always in Pittsburgh, too. So technically, Mirer was the top offensive rookie in the AFC. Manning took second place for the same award in 1998, behind Randy Moss.
So the sky was the limit for Mirer in his sophomore season. He made some progress in 1994, despite missing his last three games after fracturing his thumb. His touchdowns dropped from 12 to 11, but with fewer attempts, his rate actually improved. His interceptions dropped dramatically, from 17 (3.5 percent) to just seven (1.8 percent). He also cut his sack rate, from 8.82 to 6.62 percent. Everything was looking up.
And then it wasn't. In 1995, Brett Favre led the league with 38 touchdown passes. 11 other QBs threw at least 20 TDs. Mirer only managed 13. He did nearly lead the league in one category; unfortunately, that was his 20 interceptions. In an odd coincidence, Dave Krieg had 21, but in far more attempts. So Mirier led the league in worst interception percentage. He also saw his sacks jump back up from 27 to 42.
It's not like he didn't have offensive weapons, either. Chris Warren ran for 1,300 yards, while Brian Blades and rookie Joey Galloway each had over 1,00 yards receiving. Imagine what they could have done with Haseelbeck or Wilson throwing to them. Heck, imagine what the then-39-year-old Warren Moon could have done. You don't have to, as he did it in 1997.
The spiral continued for Mirer in 1996. He only got nine starts, completing just five touchdowns against a dozen interceptions. His passer rating, never great, hit an all-time low as a Seahawks QB at 56.6. Steve Young led the league that year at 97.2. Seattle was just 2-7 in his starts. With him on the bench, the Seahawks went 5-2.
How poorly are you playing when John Friesz and Stan Gelbaugh are better? Mercifully, that was his last season in Seattle.
But the worst was yet to come. Mirer got just three starts for the Bears in '97 and lost them all. He completed 53 of 103 passes for an astoundingly bad 420 yards. Even worse, he didn't throw a single touchdown, but did manage to throw six interceptions. His passer rating plummeted to 37.7.
He asked for his release after that, and to no one's surprise, Chicago accommodated his wishes. He signed with the Packers, but didn't get a single snap in 1998.
In 1999, he got into eight games for the Jets, starting six. Man, how bad was New York that year, anyway? Answer: They were 6-4 without him. Mirer went 2-4, throwing five TDs and nine INTs. He welcomed the new millennium by signing with the Niners, where he got into one game and managed not to throw an interception. He stayed in San Francisco in 2001, but got no playing time.
A move to Oakland in 2002 didn't change his playing status, although he did take over as the Raiders QB when Rich Gannon went out for the season with a neck injury. It was a bad team. They had Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, but their combined age was 78. Gannon didn't play well, and Mirer was worse.
The former Seahawks starter managed just three TD passes in eight starts, but at least he cut his INTs to five. He then spent a year on the bench for the Lions, then hung up the cleats after 2004.
Overall, Mirer threw for just under 12,000 yards with 50 TDs and 76 INTs. The vast majority of his playing time came with the Seahawks, as he amassed 9,094 yards with 41 touchdowns and 56 interceptions. He went 20-31 as a starter for Seattle.
The 1990s weren't a great decade for the team, but when anyone but Mirer was under center, Seattle went 7-6. That's a winning percentage of .392 for Mirer and .538 for the field. A field that consists of John Friesz, Stan Gelbaugh, and Dan McGwire.
Rick Mirer wasn't the worst quarterback ever to take a snap for Seattle. But based on his early success and the expectations set in that rookie season, he's clearly the second-worst, and biggest disappointment.