And now…the end is here!
Here’s the fifth and final installment of our five-part series looking back at the best drafts by a team each decade.
We began last month by featuring the storied 1974 draft of the Pittsburgh Steelers and their four Hall of Fame selections (Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster) that year.
It was then onto the Bay Area and the 1986 San Francisco 49ers, a group highlighted by Charles Haley, John Taylor, Tom Rathman and Tim McKyer.
A few weeks ago, it was all ‘bout them ’91 Cowboys and performers such as Russell Maryland, Alvin Harper, Leon Lett and Super Bowl XXX MVP Larry Brown. Last week, the 2006 New Orleans Saints came marching in with selections such as Reggie Bush, Roman Harper, Jahri Evans and Marques Colston.
So our final class, like the Saints, paid off with a Super Bowl title three years after it made its debut.
2010 Seattle Seahawks
The reigning NFL champions reside in the Pacific Northwest. And thanks to the first draft class of the Pete Carroll Era, the Seattle Seahawks began to build a squad that would pay off with that elusive Lombardi Trophy in a relatively short time.
In the first round in the 2010 NFL draft and with the sixth overall selection, Carroll and his brain trust grabbed Oklahoma State tackle Russell Okung. When healthy, he’s proven to be one of the better performers at his position in the league. In 2013, he did miss eight games and no one was happier to see him back in the lineup both down the stretch and in the playoffs than quarterback Russell Wilson.
And talk about irony. In 2009, the Seahawks sent their second-round pick to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a first-round selection in 2010. As it turned out, Seattle would own the 14th pick in that draft as well and use it to grab talented safety Earl Thomas. All he’s done is start every game each of his four seasons with the club, been named to the last three Pro Bowls and totaled 18 takeaways over that span.
The next two selections took the free agency highway out of town this offseason but the Seahawks certainly benefitted from the presence of wideout Golden Tate (2-Notre Dame) and cornerback Walter Thurmond (4-Oregon). Tate saw his receptions go up each season and he led the clubs in catches in 2013. However, the former Golden Domer is now a member of the Detroit Lions. Thurmond was a solid reserve but now hopes to see more playing time with the New York Giants.
Another huge contributor from this class has been hard-hitting Kam Chancellor, who saw action in all 16 games as a rookie and has been the team’s starting strong safety each of the last three seasons. The former fifth-round pick from Virginia Tech has been named to the Pro Bowl two of the last three years.
Obviously, this impressive draft was followed by some outstanding additions the last few years. In 2011, the Seahawks added linebackers K.J. Wright and Malcolm Smith (the MVP of Super Bowl XLVIII) and cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell. A year later, it was linebacker Bobby Wagner and quarterback Russell Wilson.
It would all come together in 2013 with the franchise’s first NFL championship in 38 seasons in the league. But the foundation was set in 2010 with an impressive class.
