Friday, January 16, 2009

Complete Mock Draft - Sanchez First?

by: Mike Parker

(Thanks to Tam for this link)
A local Seattle blog called SeaTown Sports has put together a complete Seahawks 2009 mock draft, and the apple of its No. 1 pick falls far from the, um, Crabtree. (I swear one day I'll stop making these kinds of jokes.) The writer, using only the byline of "James," had this to say about the one and only Mark Sanchez:

He would be perfect for our situation: A strong armed. athletic, and smart quarterback who would improve greatly with a year or two on the sidelines, which is exactly what we would give him, with Hasselbeck still running the show. Sanchez may not go quite this high, or he could go higher, depending on the combine. For right now I feel comfortable with him at #4.
I'm not sure I can be so quick to jump on board with this. S ure, Charlie Frye doesn't inspire much promise and it's understandable why the Browns banished him from Cleveland for all eternity (and of all the places to be banished from, Cleveland ranks right down there with Hell, Michigan), but we have two strong quarterbacks in the lineup already. It was already determined by doctors that if Hasselbeck rested his back, he'd recover by February. I think people were quick to write him off after this season, fearing the worst and looking to Seneca Wallace as the Seahawks' QB of the future, along with a draft pick. While I can see the sense of urgency that would make a lot of people push the panic button instinctively, let's remember for a second that Hasselbeck has injured pretty much every part of his body in the past four seasons.

And in 2007, after suffering the lion's share of said injuries, he threw 28 touchdown passes and ranked among the elite quarterbacks in the league. He had the team on his shoulders, and he carried them to another division title and a playoff run. (Too bad there was a distinct lack of a running game back then . . .)

So while I can see this blogger's point in taking Sanchez first, I think we already have a weapon in Hasselbeck that will last the team another three years at minimum. Plus, with the younger Wallace's promising development, I think we're pretty well-stacked at QB for now. That being said, let's give our cannons some more targets to hit and draft Michael Crabtree first. -END-