Lawrence Jackson makes this list despite the fact that he may still become a very good player in the NFL. Jackson was taken with the 28th pick in the 2008 draft and the general consensus then was that it was a pretty good pick. Nothing flashy, but he should be able to come in and contribute. He played in every game in 2008 but finished with a dissapointing 28 tackles and 2 sacks.
In 2009, he improved on those numbers by recording 32 tackles and 4.5 sacks while starting 10 games. With the entrance of his former college coach after 2009, things were looking up for Jackson. Presumably, Pete Carroll would find a great use for him as he did at USC and Jackson would thrive in the new system. After all, LoJack produced 30.5 sacks for Carroll's Trojans while starting 51 games in college. If anyone can get production from Jackson, it's Carroll. It didn't turn out that way though.
Instead, Carroll traded him for a sixth round pick to Detroit. In what will probably go down as a less than successful trade, the Seahawks got rid of 'first round talent' for a future sixth rounder.
I should note that I still think that Lawrence Jackson could have a successful career in the NFL and he played pretty solidly for the Lions in 2010 and will not be an "NFL Bust" by any means. The frustrating thing about Lawrence Jackson will always be that he essentially became a man without a position once Carroll came in and re-tooled the defense, and he became expendable. It's semantics for sure, but he 'busted' because he was the Seahawks first pick in '08 and was gone from the team for a 6th rounder in '10. In a pure, logical sense, you'd really love to get more out of a first round selection than that.
However, the Hawks didn't, and thus is how Lo-Jack has found himself on this list. For whatever reason - whether Schneider and Carroll were wrong or right -, the new regime didn't feel they could use him here so they shipped him out for essentially peanuts.
Not only that, he was a class act when he left, saying:
"I love Seattle, I'm going to keep my home here. This is a place where I wanted to be after football if I didn't get drafted. It just sucks to kind of temporarily be uprooted. I love the city, I love the food, the fans, the people, but professionally, I feel like (this is) a better opportunity."
Dammit!
Best of luck to you out in Detroit, Lawrence. Just not when we play you.
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