Seahawks at 50: Kenny Easley headlines Seattle’s best 1980s NFL Draft picks

Seattle’s first-round picks in the 1980s helped jumpstart the Seahawks playoff hopes.

The Seattle Seahawks recently announced some of their plans for celebrating their 50th season this year. They’re also likely deep into their preparations for the upcoming NFL Draft. What a perfect opportunity to combine them and look at some of the best Seahawks draft picks for each decade of existence!

The second decade for the Seahawks included their first real success under head coach Chuck Knox. Time to see the 1980’s draft picks he had to work with!

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Jacob Green, DE – 1980 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 10

Nothing like hitting big on the first draft pick of the 1980’s! Jacob Green was a menace to the opposing QBs, finishing with 115.5 career sacks (97.5 officially after sacks became an official stat). That’s the Seattle Seahawks franchise record and nearly 40 more than the next closest player. Green is still the franchise leader in opponent recovered fumbles with 17. He also had four defensive TDs, two off INTs and two from recovered fumbles. Even with all these stats, Green only made two Pro-Bowls during his 12 years on Seattle.

Kenny Easley, SS – 1981 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 4

Just one year later, the Seahawks struck gold again in the first round…maybe I should’ve said they struck “gold jacket” with eventual Hall-of-Famer Kenny Easley. His career was cut short by kidney disease, forcing retirement at just 28 years old. In seven seasons, Easley made the Pro Bowl five times, was a three-time All Pro, and was named the 1984 Defensive Player of the Year when he led the league with 10 INTs and two house calls. Those 10 INTs in a season are tied for the Seahawks record and his 32 career INTs place him in a tie for 4th in Seattle history. Easley was named to the NFL 1980’s All-Decade Team and had his number 45 retired by the Seahawks in 2017, the same year he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Jeff Bryant, DE – 1982 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 6

Make it three years in a row for Seattle hitting on their first pick of the NFL Draft as they added Jeff Bryant to the defensive line, who did his part in taking down QBs much like teammate Jacob Green. Bryant played in 167 games for the Seahawks from 1982-1993, finishing with 63.0 career sacks which is 3rd in Seattle history. His monster 1984 season with 14.5 sacks was a bit of an outlier but he was very consistent with 8 seasons recording between 3.0 and 5.5 sacks. Bryant never made a Pro Bowl yet was a key part of Seattle’s defense for over a decade.

Curt Warner, RB – 1983 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 3

Ok, now the Seahawks are just showing off with all these first-round hits, though Curt Warner is the first one on offense. To say that Warner burst onto the scene might be an understatement as he rushed for 1,449 yards and 13 TDs as a rookie in 1983, both of them rookie franchise records for Seattle. A knee injury in the first game of 1984 led to a lost season for Warner but he bounced back to record three more 1,000 yard seasons and another that came up just 15 yards short. All-in-all, Warner finished with 6,705 rushing yards, 1,467 receiving yards and 62 total TDs as a member of the Seahawks. That rushing total is still good for 3rd in Seahawks history and he ranks 5th in total TDs.

John L Williams, FB – 1986 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 15

We had to skip ahead a few years, yet we stay in the backfield with fullback John L Williams who was a unique dual threat as a member of the Seahawks. How about this for symmetry? Over 8 seasons in Seattle, Williams gained 4,579 rushing yards with 17 rushing TDs. He added 4,151 yards receiving with an addition 19 TDs through the air. Williams had 5 seasons of over 500 yards rushing and 4 seasons of over 500 yards receiving and is in the top 10 in both career rushing and receiving totals for the Seahawks.

Brian Blades, WR – 1988 NFL Draft Round 2, Pick No. 49

Even though he played during an era with unsettled QB play in Seattle from 1988-1998, Brian Blades was able to post four seasons with over 1,000 yards receiving. He made his first and only Pro Bowl in his second season with 1,063 yards and 5 TDs. Blades played his entire career in Seattle and his 581 career receptions for 7,620 yards place him at 3rd in both categories in Seahawks history.

Honorable Mentions

Ron Essink, OT – 1980 NFL Draft Round 10, Pick No. 265 (Played entire 6-year career with the Seahawks, starting 70 games)

Edwin Bailey, OG – 1981 NFL Draft Round 5, Pick No. 114 (Played entire 11-year career with the Seahawks, starting 120 games)

Bruce Scholtz, LB – 1982 NFL Draft Round 2, Pick No. 33 (Started 95 games over 7 years in Seattle recording 5 INTs and 9.50 sacks)

Terry Taylor, DB – 1984 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 22 (Had 2 stints in Seattle, racking up 16 INTs in 55 starts)

Fredd Young, LB – 1984 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 76 (Only played 4 seasons with the Seahawks, but made the Pro Bowl each year and was 1st Team All-Pro in 1987)

Andy Heck, OT – 1989 NFL Draft Round 1, Pick No. 15 (Played 5 seasons in Seattle, starting 70 games. As a coach, Heck is a 3x Super Bowl Champion as the OL coach for the Kansas City Chiefs)

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Next week will be the 1990s…a pretty rough decade for the team performance, but also one filled with some all-time great draft picks!