Conceding the Ryan Mallett Anti-Hype

Thirty-two teams can't all be wrong multiple times. The NFL must know something about Ryan Mallett that we don't, and that something must be ominous. There's no other way to explain Mallett's stunning fall into the early third round on draft day. The rumors that had been floating around about his character and work ethic must have had something to them after all.

If only we knew what that something was. We don't have any better idea now than we did back in January.

A few people, like 17 Power's own Scott, have questioned my objectivity regarding Mallett. (I'm glad he's doing so. That's the reason I brought other guys on - to keep me accountable.) But while I may have been sympathetic for the guy over the (at the time) empty smear campaign directed against him, I really wasn't rooting for Mallett as an individual. I just desperately, desperately want the Seahawks to resolve the quarterback situation and move forward with their future. And from a talent standpoint, Mallett was by far the best solution. I was so sold on his talent that I was willing to eat a second-round pick and move up 10 spots in a Twitter mock draft to nab him.

Then the draft came along, confirming the adage "When there's smoke, there's fire." Mallett was passed on by team after team. I still remember Michael Crabtree's face as it comically fell when Seattle passed on him at #4 in the 2009 draft. Apparently there was something to his baggage rumors as well. His contract holdout proved that.

'Course, some Seattle fans even now think that Crabtree would have been a better pick than the "safe" guy we grabbed instead. A few would even have tolerated his contract holdout for the sake of having something on offense. How will we be looking back at Mallett in three years' time, having had him snatched out from under our very nose by the New England Patriots?

Why You Never Ever Trade with Bill Belichick

And with the 98th pick the Seahawks select...

...the worst player in the draft. Taco Wallace. David Greene. Rudi. Much like every car I ever bought used, this pick is guaranteed to cause regret. If a 4th rounder can ever be a bust, this pick will be the new definition. If a 4th rounder can set your team back for years to come, this one will. This guy will knock up the coaches daughter, sell HGH to the rest of the team and get pinched, and fall on Russell Okung's newly recovered ankle on the first play of training camp. The best thing for the Seahawks to do with this pick is tie rocks to it and bury it at sea.

I exaggerate too much. Yet the idea that you are bound to lose in any deal with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is hardly without foundation - and that is exactly what Seattle did to obtain that 98th.