The paucity of top drafted talent on the 2011 Seattle Seahawks

Now that it appears as if Curry has been benched, and perhaps even up for trade, his future with the Seahawks seems ordained: he won't be a part of it. NFL teams expect to obtain top talent in the first two rounds of the draft. Sure, later rounds are important, and we can name dozens of such players who have had excellent careers. But on balance, most teams expect to draft players in the first two rounds who will contribute at high levels, either right away or in the following few years. With that in mind, it occurred to me that the 2011 Seattle Seahawks are virtually bereft of top-round talent from their own drafts over the past decade. Setting aside the past two drafts (Okung/Thomas/Tate/Carpenter) there are exactly 2 players contributing to the 2011 Seahawks from the top two rounds of the previous nine drafts: Trufant (2003) and Unger (2009). Two players out of 18 drafted, the drafts that we would expect to have the largest impact on the current team. The point is not to point blame at the drafters, or the players, or make excuses about injuries, but simply to point out that with so little conbtribution from these critical rounds over those past decade, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the Seahawks are routinely touted as the worst team in the league. Sure, success in later rounds (Mebane, Wright, Bryant, Forsett) and FA (BMW, Miller, Rice, Browner) and UDFAs (Hawthorne, Baldwin) help offset this draft drought, but it doesn't make up for what should be the primary source of top NFL talent. Nor does it help that some of the players on the list below were traded, as in every case the trade netted a lower draft pick, not an equivalent one. Take a look at those past drafts: 2001: 1/9 Koren Robinson; 1/17 Steve Hutchinson; 2/40 Ken Lucas 2002: 1/28 Jeremy Stevens; 2/54 Maurice Morris 2003: 1/11 Marcus Trufant; 2/42 Ken Hamlin 2004: 1/23 Marcus Tubbs; 2/53 Michael Boulware 2005: 1/26 Chris Spencer; 2/45 Tatupu 2006: 1/31 Jennings; 2/63 Tapp 2007: 2/55 Josh Wilson (first round pick traded for Branch) 2008: 1/28 Lawrence Jackson; 2/38 John Carlson (IR) 2009: 1/4 Curry; 2/49 Max Unger The following 2 drafts look good, as all these players are contributing at some level: 2010: 1/6 Okung; 2/14 Thomas; 3/60 Tate 2011: 1/22 Carpenter.