How My Team Did at the Draft: Seattle Seahawks Edition

Round 1, pick 4: Aaron Curry, OLB, Wake Forest

Before the draft started, I was just hoping the Seahawks wouldn't take Mark Sanchez and hoped they would take the safe pick of an OT assuming Curry was off the board. I absolutely did not expect Aaron Curry to fall in our laps like he did, but I'm so glad they didn't screw it up. Curry was considered by most to be the safest pick in the draft, and with good reason. The guy is an absolute beast who ate up the ACC for 4 years; not to mention the fact that he oozes class. He invited a cancer-stricken kid to come with him to the draft! How awesome is that!? Welcome to Seattle, Mr. Curry. Please enjoy your extended stay.

Round 2, pick 17: Max Unger, C, Oregon


I like this pick because Unger is so versatile. Our offensive line is getting more and more questionable, so we really need Unger to step in and make a difference.

Fun Fact: He played high school football at Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Kamuela, Hawaii.

Round 3, pick 27: Deon Butler, WR, Penn State



Of course I was hoping we would end up with Crabtree somehow (the Raiders are idiots), but I would take Curry over him every time, especially since we signed Houshmandzadeh. The Seahawks moved up to take Butler who was a standout at Penn State where he finished with the record for most receptions (passing former Seahawk Bobby Engram).

Fun fact: Butler spent the summer of 2008 as an intern with the Philadelphia Police Department's Crime Scene Unit, observing several homicide crime scenes, and augmenting his degree with valuable field experience.

Round 6, pick 5: Mike Teel, QB, Rutgers


Fun fact: On December 4, 2008, Teel had a career night in the final home game of his college career, completing 21 of 26 passes for 447 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions as Rutgers routed Louisville 63-14. The yardage and touchdown totals were single game school records as the Scarlet Knights finished their schedule at 7-5.


Round 7, pick 36: Courtney Greene, S, Rutgers

Round 7, pick 38: Nick Reed, DE, Oregon

Round 7, pick 39: Cameron Morrah, TE, California

I honestly don't know enough about the last 3 picks to offer any analysis, but I do know that they all filled team needs (except running back).

Undrafted signed free agents:

Michael Bennett, DE, Texas A&M
Tony Fein, LB, Mississippi
Dave Philistin, OLB, Maryland
Devin Moore, RB, Wyoming
Andre Ramsey, OT, Ball State
Tyler Roehl, RB, North Dakota State

We ended up with a couple running backs after all. I've heard good things about Devin Moore, so we'll see what he can do, plus Tyler Roehl is like a legend here in North Dakota so I really hope he takes it to the next level, it would definitely help the local market to pick up some Seahawks games.


Overall, I love what the Seahawks did in the draft, and that usually doesn't happen, they usually find a way to screw something up. I'm ecstatic that we got Aaron Curry, plus a trade with the Broncos gives us their 1st rounder next year...so I'm really counting on Denver to suck.

This was a little bit of a head scratcher, because I felt that Seattle still needed a running back to throw into the mix and there were still some viable options on the board. Teel's alright, but we already had a clipboard holder in David Greene and I'm afraid that Teel's headed to the same fate. I really hope I'm wrong because I know of a couple other 6th round quarterbacks that had their fair share of doubters.

Why My Favorite Team is My Favorite Team: The Seattle Seahawks

So I figured this would be a good idea for a series posts each of us can make. Explaining why we follow the teams we do and detailing every heartbreaking moment along the way.

People ask me "why the hell do you like the Seahawks? That makes no sense." No, it doesn't really, but I'll try to make some sense of it.

Here's the short answer:

A couple generations back, most of my family resided in Washington state and followed the sports teams pretty heavily (Huskies, Mariners, Seahawks, Sonics, etc.) Well it was my grandfather that got me hooked on the Seabags, and I'm glad that none of the other teams stuck with me because Seattle had arguably the worst sports year of any city this year...that kind of failure would probably have led to me being on suicide watch. My real teams didn't fare much better, but things are looking up.



Things are looking way up today for the Seahawks with T.J. Houshmandzadeh signing a 5-year deal. This is just what we needed, a proven veteran receiver to come in and be an explosive and reliable target for Matt Hasselbeck. We probably won't take a gamble on Crabtree now with the first pick, though it would still be tempting. I would love to see us draft Kenny Britt (Rutgers) or Darrius Heyward-Bey (Maryland). Our receiving situation was dreadful last year... you know you're in trouble when you're signing Koren Robinson and trading for Keary Colbert.



Now with Houshamizilli and (hopefully) a young talented receiver in the draft, our passing game can get back to the way it was our Super Bowl year. The defense had a dismal year, but I'm confident they can get back into form as well. I just wish our running game was a little more stable. I never was a big fan of signing Julius Jones or T.J. Duckett especially since we would've been just fine with Maurice Morris and Leonard Weaver, but them's the breaks sometimes. MoMo is off to Detroit now and Weaver may very well be out the door as well. Oh well, I would love to see more of Owen "The Runaway Beer Truck" Schmitt anyways.



I didn't start religiously following the Seahawks until the 99-2000 season. Back then we were still in the AFC West and our biggest rivals were the Jokeland Raiders. Around that time, the biggest story with the team was that we had the longest playoff-victory drought of any active team in the NFL. That drought continued through to the year of the infamous "we want the ball and we're gonna score" line. Then came the year we lost to the freaking Rams THREE TIMES IN ONE SEASON!!! I honestly thought I would go my entire life without seeing the Hawks win one stupid playoff game. Then came the magical year of 2005. What a great year...record setting MVP Shaun Alexander had himself a year. We locked up the #1 seed, beat the Redskins, beat the Panthers, and finally got that damn monkey off our back. Oh yeah and we went on to our first Super Bowl only to lose to the refs... I mean the Steelers (DID YOU KNOW JEROME BETTIS IS FROM DETROIT?!?!? ONE FOR THE THUMB!!!!!!11111111111). I could type about how bad that officiating was until I get carpal tunnel, but what's the point?




Outlook for next season:

Best Case Scenario:

All of the key players stay healthy, Hasselbeck and the Hawks passing attack torch defenses and Houshyomamma has another pro bowl year. The defense goes back to their top-10 form and stuff the run while not getting burned for big passing plays. We win the NFC West and march all the way to Miami for Super Bowl XLIV and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 75-3 (yes I will always be bitter about that Super Bowl).

Worst Case Scenario:

Um.. can it get much worse than last year? Wait...Don't answer that...

We get stricken with more injuries, Seneca Wallace has to start again, Houshbag becomes yet another Seahawk WR that never lives up to his expectations.. (See: Burleson, Nate and Branch, Deion). The Cardinals win the NFC West again while sweeping the Seahawks, and the Hawks end up with another top-10 pick...but not the number 1 pick, more like 8, 9, or 10th. Jim Mora Jr. goes off on a "PLAYOFFS?!?!'"-esque rant a la his father.



What Will Probably Happen:

We compete for the crown in the division that we've owned this decade. The Rams and 49ers actually show signs of life while the Cardinals come back down to earth and suddenly the NFC West is one of the more competitive divisions. I'm gonna predict that Seattle wins the division (unbiased!) at 10-6..wins their home playoff game and loses in the 2nd round. Keep in mind this is ridiculously early to be making any kind of plausible prediction but that's what the offseason is all about...making ridiculous predictions that eventually don't come true...and then deleting them later so they can't be used against you.