Seahawks biggest draft bust

[RiverDog]

Eh....I'd say Stevens is just as much of a bust as KRob was. Lawrence Jackson was a bigger bust than Stevens, Jennings, and KRob though. Lawrence Jackson seems to be overlooked by a lot on these bust lists. Lamar King too.

In 2005, our SB run, Stevens had a solid year, hauling in 45 passes and 5 TD's. That was good enough for the 2nd leading receiver on our team in both categories despite the fact that he only played in 12 games that season (He played in all 16 in the previous two). He came up big for us in the playoffs that season with 11 catches for 104 yards and 2 TD's, although he was most remembered for the one he dropped in XL. There is no denying that he was a critical component of our passing offense as at 6'7", he was a huge matchup problem for defenses that also had to worry about another big bodied receiver in Joe Jurevicious(sp), our leading receiver that season, one that resulted in our only SB appearance up to that point.

I'll be the first to agree that 12 solid games in itself doesn't erase a bust title, but the fact that he was such a big reason for our only SB team in our first 30 years, I'd argue against calling him a pure bust in the same manner that some of the other names being discussed are.

 

[Rat]

I think the argument could be made that Aaron Curry was ultimately a good pick for us. A lot of people were projecting Mark Sanchez with that #4 pick. How much would THAT have sent the franchise back? At least Curry played an easily replaceable position. It's entirely possible we never get Russ in we draft Sanchez.

 

[Barthawk]

Aaron Curry by far. No one even close. He made over 30M for 2+ years of terrible play.. 30M! Rick Mirer netted us a Mid-1st round draft pick when traded to Chicago that was used to get Shawn Springs/Walter Jones.

The discussion begins and ends with Curry. McIntosh, King were not stellar, but didn't cost the team 30M dollars and facilitated the trade of Julian Peterson for basically nothing in return.

 

[Barthawk]

1 Dan Mcgwire- Really the only true number 1

2 Aaron Curry- Mcgwire of the Defense

3 Jeremy Stevens- idiot with a big mouth and small brain.

4 Kelly Jennings- just not a good player.

5 Koren Robinson - what could have been


Sent from my SM-N910R4 using Tapatalk

I can't argue about McGuire. You can thank our owner at the time, Ken Behring, to thank for that one, proof positive that owners involvement with the team should consist no more than a weekly lunch with the head coach.

Stevens did contribute, and was a key component of our SB run in 2005. No way was he a bust, but he did disappoint later in his career.

Jennings started a number of games. No doubt he was horrible at fighting for jump balls, but he was a good cover guy. He should have been relegated to a nickel back rather than being put on an island as he was for so much of his career with us.

Koren Robinson was pretty much a bust. The guy couldn't catch a cold. Him and DJack had a contest in 2004 to see who could drop the most passes.

We traded Jennings to Cincy for Clinton McDonald who was a stud during his time in Seattle. LoJack and the others mentioned were late 1st round picks.. King, McIntosh.. just didn't work. Curry not only sucked, he cost the team precious cap space and netted really nothing in return that was viable.

 

[seahawkfreak]

1. Rick Mirer: even he would rank 1 on all time draft bust in the entire NFL, Unbelievable Randy Muller got something for him in the trade
2. Brian Bosworth: When Bo Jackson ran over him pretty much solidified his career.

No and No.

1.Something? We got a 1st and a 4th for Mirer, enabled us to get Shawn Springs in 1997. Also set all-time NFL rookie records for attempts, completions and yards, and became only the 3rd rookie quarterback since 1970 to start all of his team's games. He finished his rookie season 5th in the AFC with 274 completions and 2833 yards. He was also runner up in the offensive rookie of the year voting.(1) There have been much worse busts in the NFL.

2. He had a bad game against arguable the most gifted athlete in all of sports. He made the mistake by running his mouth and saying he could contain Bo. Career was too short but was a decent player for Seattle.

1.Wikipedia

 

[RiverDog]

1. Rick Mirer: even he would rank 1 on all time draft bust in the entire NFL, Unbelievable Randy Muller got something for him in the trade
2. Brian Bosworth: When Bo Jackson ran over him pretty much solidified his career.

No and No.

1.Something? We got a 1st and a 4th for Mirer, enabled us to get Shawn Springs in 1997. Also set all-time NFL rookie records for attempts, completions and yards, and became only the 3rd rookie quarterback since 1970 to start all of his team's games. He finished his rookie season 5th in the AFC with 274 completions and 2833 yards. He was also runner up in the offensive rookie of the year voting.(1) There have been much worse busts in the NFL.

2. He had a bad game against arguable the most gifted athlete in all of sports. He made the mistake by running his mouth and saying he could contain Bo. Career was too short but was a decent player for Seattle.

1.Wikipedia

If you are going to go strictly by a highest draft/lowest performance equation, then Mirer is undoubtedly our biggest bust. He was the highest draft choice ever by our franchise, the #2 overall. But it is a fair point to note that we absolutely fleeced the Bears in obtaining two high draft picks for him. That has to be taken into consideration, just like injuries to high draft picks such as Lamar King, Chris McIntosh, and Marcus Tubbs is routinely figured into the equation when rating draft busts.

I agree with freak about Bosworth. The reason everyone feels he was a bust was due to all the hype around him, without a doubt the most hyped player to be drafted by our franchise. It's no more fair to consider him a bust than it would be for someone like Tubbs or McIntosh as his career was cut short due to injury.

 

[RiverDog]

I think the argument could be made that Aaron Curry was ultimately a good pick for us. A lot of people were projecting Mark Sanchez with that #4 pick. How much would THAT have sent the franchise back? At least Curry played an easily replaceable position. It's entirely possible we never get Russ in we draft Sanchez.

I've brought that point up in a number of debates. Just suppose that instead of Curry, we took the next best player available in that draft, Mark Sanchez? We definitely were in the market for a QB as Hass was clearly past his prime, and there was a solid group of individuals who were advocating that we take him.

And further, let's suppose that Sanchez, like he did with the Jets, played just well enough in his first few years to make us think that he was a keeper? After all, Sanchez played for Pete at USC. Would we have drafted Russell Wilson a few years later?

As fate would have it, things turned out pretty good for us, so I'm not complaining.

 

[Northwest Seahawk]

Mirer
Curry

These are the top 2. Yes both played well here and there but in totality both were horrible given where they were drafted and what they were supposed to bring the franchise.

 

[Subzero717]

Seriously? No Tharold Simon?? This guy was talked/hyped a lot, but resulted in nothing.

He was a 5th round pick????

 

[Subzero717]

Curry has to be #1. However, I put so much of it on Ruskell. Why on earth would we draft a non pass rushing LBer #4 overall? Then we hand him the richest contract in the history of the league for a non QB. He might just be the sole reason they have the CBA that they do. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it is deals like that, that made the vets say no mas.

McGwire is second. He too was a victim of circumstance. Knox wanted Favre. The football minds were right. Behring screwed us and we took Marks brother.

 

[RiverDog]

Curry has to be #1. However, I put so much of it on Ruskell. Why on earth would we draft a non pass rushing LBer #4 overall? Then we hand him the richest contract in the history of the league for a non QB. He might just be the sole reason they have the CBA that they do. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it is deals like that, that made the vets say no mas.

McGwire is second. He too was a victim of circumstance. Knox wanted Favre. The football minds were right. Behring screwed us and we took Marks brother.

Ruskell wasn't alone. He was following conventional wisdom, and Curry would have been chosen where we took him by 90% of the GM's. He absolutely astounded scouts at the combine and was widely considered to be a safe pick and was even thought possible to be the #1 overall. Many considered Curry to be the best athlete in the draft and had we not taken him and instead took Sanchez, Cleveland would have selected him next, and if you were a 12 at the time, you would have been like all of us were back then: Ecstatic at the selection as there wasn't a fan around that was blessed with the 20/20 hindsight that you seem to have.

Rookie contracts, particularly top 10 picks, were going up exponentially both before and after the Curry pick, and if you're going to propose that a single player's contract was responsible for the CBA, it would have been Sam Bradford, who signed a 6 year, $78M/50M guaranteed contract the following year which blew away Curry's 6 year, $60M/34M guaranteed deal.

Curry was without a doubt one of if not our biggest draft bust. But you're really stretching the truth regarding the circumstances that existed when we drafted him.

 

[Subzero717]

Curry has to be #1. However, I put so much of it on Ruskell. Why on earth would we draft a non pass rushing LBer #4 overall? Then we hand him the richest contract in the history of the league for a non QB. He might just be the sole reason they have the CBA that they do. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it is deals like that, that made the vets say no mas.

McGwire is second. He too was a victim of circumstance. Knox wanted Favre. The football minds were right. Behring screwed us and we took Marks brother.

Ruskell wasn't alone. He was following conventional wisdom, and Curry would have been chosen where we took him by 90% of the GM's. He absolutely astounded scouts at the combine and was widely considered to be a safe pick and was even thought possible to be the #1 overall. Many considered Curry to be the best athlete in the draft and had we not taken him and instead took Sanchez, Cleveland would have selected him next, and if you were a 12 at the time, you would have been like all of us were back then: Ecstatic at the selection as there wasn't a fan around that was blessed with the 20/20 hindsight that you seem to have.

Rookie contracts, particularly top 10 picks, were going up exponentially both before and after the Curry pick, and if you're going to propose that a single player's contract was responsible for the CBA, it would have been Sam Bradford, who signed a 6 year, $78M/50M guaranteed contract the following year which blew away Curry's 6 year, $60M/34M guaranteed deal.

Curry was without a doubt one of if not our biggest draft bust. But you're really stretching the truth regarding the circumstances that existed when we drafted him.

We can't really speculate what 90% of GMs would have done can we? I'm not sure what conventional wisdom you are referring to as several FOs have hard rules especially top ten picks. Having only a handful of positions worthy of a top ten pick.

If going based on national "experts" analysis saying he was the safest pick in the draft, that doesn't change the fact that he was a non pass rushing LBer. The local "experts" on this very board were completely opposed to the pick before and after it was made.

 

[RiverDog]

We can't really speculate what 90% of GMs would have done can we? I'm not sure what conventional wisdom you are referring to as several FOs have hard rules especially top ten picks. Having only a handful of positions worthy of a top ten pick.

If going based on national "experts" analysis saying he was the safest pick in the draft, that doesn't change the fact that he was a non pass rushing LBer. The local "experts" on this very board were completely opposed to the pick before and after it was made.

You're right, the 90% of the GM's remark of mine is unprovable. I was repeating something I heard.

Nevertheless, the Curry pick was undeniably the CW at the time. There wasn't a publication out there that didn't have him rated at least as a top 15 pick. Here's what Bleacher Report had to say:

To start the healing process they (Seahawks) need to get better on that side of the football.  Curry is the best defensive player in the draft and he’d impact that unit immediately.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1447 ... hould-look

Here's one of the worst ones I could find, and take note of their first sentence:

It really seems like to me everyone in the Draftnik community got together and just one day declared Aaron Curry as a top five pick. I love Curry the player, but to be a top-eight player on my Draft board as a 4-3 outside linebacker you better have very fluid hips (like Derrick Brooks as a prospect) and have the ability to play the Tampa 2 WILL, which Curry does not. Bottom line is Curry certainly has weaknesses going untalked about, but in the end, I do project him as a top-15 pick.

https://walterfootball.com/pro2009acurry.php

And here's one from ESPN, showing Cleveland's interest in taking him at #5:

Dream scenario: Cleveland would love for Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry to fall into its lap at No. 5. Curry is considered by some to be the best player in the draft. Last month, the Browns desperately needed help at linebacker but figured Curry would be gone, so the team signed former New York Jets linebackers Eric Barton and David Bowens to fill the needs. Barton and Bowens are over 30 and will be stopgap players in Cleveland for a couple seasons. Landing Curry would give the Browns a franchise defensive player to possibly build around for the next decade.

http://www.espn.com/blog/afcnorth/post/ ... and-browns


I wasn't a poster on this board back in 2009, so I can't refute your last statement. But I did participate in two other boards, and they both nearly unanimous abut the Curry pick, many predicting a consistent Pro Bowl performer, with the only dissenters being those few that wanted us to select Sanchez but none questioned that he was a 'safe pick.'

 

[hawkfannj]

Aaron Curry. See his career.

Yeah remember couldn't miss with this one ! Still got his jersey. Sucked he didn't live up to the hype

 

[sdog1981]

Aaron Curry. See his career.

Yeah remember couldn't miss with this one ! Still got his jersey. Sucked he didn't live up to the hype

Don't feel too bad the Factoria Applebees still has a huge Aaron Curry pictures as the center piece of their Seahawks mural.

 

[RiverDog]

Aaron Curry. See his career.

Yeah remember couldn't miss with this one ! Still got his jersey. Sucked he didn't live up to the hype

Don't feel too bad the Factoria Applebees still has a huge Aaron Curry pictures as the center piece of their Seahawks mural.

Yea, and I still see Brian Bosworth posters in some local sports bars. I guess they want to make sure that us Hawk fans don't get too swell headed.

 

[ACES 13]

Aaron Curry. See his career.

Yeah remember couldn't miss with this one ! Still got his jersey. Sucked he didn't live up to the hype

Curry ... I had high hopes, bought his jersey and soon regretted it. I now have a #59 with the nameplate cut off!

As I look back I wonder why they felt the need to replace Julian Peterson who was a very good pass rusher and solid overall at that position. 20/20 hindsight ...

 

[mistaowen]

Tim Ruskell

Really all that needs to be said. Draft is a hard thing to succeed in, that man put us at a disadvantage every year.

 

[semiahmoo]

Not sure who would be the biggest but here are the contenders in my opinion....

Dan McGwire
Rick Mirer
Kelly Stouffer (they didn't draft him but traded a first round, 5th rd picks, and HOF Kenny Easley for him)
Owen Gill
Tommy Kane
Doug Thomas
Lamar King
Jerramy Stevens
Kelly Jennings
Christine Michael

On your first three I would say:
McGwire was not only terrible but we passed on Favre for him
Stouffer was just horrible
Mirer was somewhat serviceable but the one thing he has in his favor was that we absolutely stole a first round pick from the Bears for him and I believe worked a deal with the Raiders to pick Walt with that pick and another.

The others are all bad but if I had to pick one it would be either McGwire or Stouffer.

WE PASSED ON FAVRE!!?????

Bloody hell...

 

[semiahmoo]

Curry taken 4th because you have to consider all the other players you could have had instead (basically everyone)

You also have to consider the dollars being such a huge issue in recent years

As I recall, the draft we took Curry in was filled with lemons, at least at the top. There were a lot of rumors that we were going to select Mark Sanchez, who was snapped up by the Jets right after us. Jason Smith, the #2 overall taken by the Rams, was beat out by a rookie the following season and was no more productive than Curry.

Everyone remembers Brian Bosworth because without a doubt he was the most heralded #1 pick in team history and with his Mohawk haircut and stunts like arriving at practice in a helicopter, he made the biggest initial public relations splash. But he did play relatively well and contributed for several years before he was diagnosed with a degenerative shoulder problem, and was rumored to have known about the condition before he signed his guaranteed contract.

Boz could play - even when playing hurt. One of the fasted 250+ pound players I've ever seen. He had a second gear that was flat out explosive.

Yeah, that shoulder was shot when he arrived. His Sooner play was glorious - leaving out the other stuff. On the field, top 3 college linebacker of all time - with an argument to be #1 IMO.

He was fun and made Seattle a national team for a while.

Would love to have had him for a couple good years in the PC defense era. Boz would have fit right in with the 2013 Hawks crew. Maybe we win that 2nd SB against New England. You know Boz would have been gunning for a QB like Brady big time.

Boz...

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