Holmgren as GM?

[Brandon-Clyde]

National Football Post - Former Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren reportedly has his eye on the team's general manager job.

Current Seattle general manager Tim Ruskell is in the last year of his deal.

The National Football Post is reporting that sources indicate Holmgren is more interested in a front office role than a return to the sidelines

This might be a very good thing. It is my belief that in Holmgens original stint as GM he did a very good job

[Sweezo]

This might be a very good thing. It is my belief that in Holmgens original stint as GM he did a very good job

Well, he didn't. His track record was lackluster, and despite Ruskell's misses he's done a much better job of finding NFL caliber players in the 2nd-3rd rounds.

[nuke the whales]

Holmgren came here as coach/GM. There's a reason why he lost the GM title.

[Danny Darko]

I might give it a chance, but alot of people wouldn't.
So here's my Holmgren Koolaid look at his tenure as Gm


Holmgren's draft picks
99'
DE Lamar King: Bust-- he was a need pick but didn't do anything.
QB Brock Huard: Sentimental local pick who's injuries kept his glimpses of talent to a minimum.
WR Karsten Bailey: Wikipedia has a blank page for him...'nough said
DE Antonio Cochran: turned out pretty solid as a 4th rounder
OT Floyd Wedderburn: 3 year tenure at guard for us. not too bad.
KR Charlie Rogers: had a pretty decent career returning kicks
DB Steve Johnson: low expectation and low return.

2000 Had two great picks
RB Shaun Alexander: great pick, but in fairness we need a rb and he fell into our lap
OT Chris McIntosh: retired due to injury, can't blame Mike
DB Ike Charlton: Ike sucked, but 5 other teams gave him shots, so he must have showed something.
WR Darrell Jackson: Great Holmgren find.
LB Marcus Bell: undersized LB? sounds like a Ruskell pick, but with less success.
LB Isiah Kacyvenski : a very solid special teams player who played 7 years.
WR James Williams: who?
DT Tim Watson: ate alot of food in training camp.
DT John Hilliard: ditto


2001
WR Koren Robinson: Physically talented but marks one of many character issue guys Mike liked.
OG Steve Hutchinson: Maybe top 2-3 guards ever.
DB Ken Lucas: Good pick
FB Heath Evans: looked like He-Man played like Orko
LB Orlando Huff below average with glimpses
DB Curtis Fuller: who now?
OT Pork Chop Womack: pretty good pick injuries aside.
WR Alex Bannister: solid special teams guy
QB Josh Booty: ass
DB Harold Blackmon: sounded Jamaican other than that...
OT Dennis Norman: still playing I think we gave up on him too early.
DT Kris Kocurek: wore a triple xl jersey.


2002
TE Jerramy Stevens: Another head case... so tempting due to size and speed.
RB Maurice Morris: probably would have slipped but a decent back.
DE Anton Palepoi: Big reach, but other teams also kept picking him up.
DB Kris Richard: Lame sauce
DB Terreal Bierria: Pretty average and also arrested for murder (character issues again)
DT Rocky Bernard: Good pick
TE Ryan Hannam: Had some hands but injury took him out.
OT Matt Hill: poof he disappeared
P Craig Jarrett: early for a punter that did nothing.
QB Jeff Kelly: swing and a miss, but he was a late rounder.


2003
DB Marcus Trufant: Pro bowler
DB Ken Hamlin: A good player, but character issues and he blew it in the Super Bowl
OT Wayne Hunter: Too high to pick him, but he's still hanging around the league.
QB Seneca Wallace: A good pick, but maybe should have made him a WR
LB Solomon Bates: petered out.
FB Chris Davis: Injuries
DT Rashad Moore: below average but is still playing some how.
K Josh Brown: good pick... poor career decision making.
WR Taco Wallace: I'm convinced his name got him drafted.

2004
DT Marcus Tubbs: the only year he was sort of healthy he was a great run stopper.
S Michael Boulware: Gamble and fail at a position change, but he had moments.
OT Sean Locklear: solid pick but I like him less than many do.
LB Niko Koutouvides: Drafted too high, but he's still hanging around the league as a ST player.
WR D.J. Hackett: Decent pick all things considered.
DT Craig Terrell: Decent pick, blue collar rock musician that Paul Allen loves.
P Donnie Jones: Great pick, just not for us.

[Ex-hippie]

Holmgren came here as coach/GM. There's a reason why he lost the GM title.

Well, part of that reason was that he was being distracted in his coaching duties by the GM responsibilities. The view around the league was that the team was talented but underperforming.

I like Danny Darko's assessment above, though he might have too high an expectation for 4th and 5th round picks -- any semblance of a solid NFL career makes a player a good pick in those rounds, and D.J. Hackett and Pork Chop Womack both look like great picks today.

But putting aside the forest for the trees, Holmgren basically built the offensive nucleus that made the Seahawks a very dangerous team in the middle part of this decade. He engineered the series of trades that dealt a first-round pick for Hasselbeck, then maneuvered through the draft to bring back Koren Robinson and Steve Hutchinson. He was fortunate for Alexander to drop into his lap (nobody thought he'd be available with that pick) and was astute enough to spot Darrell Jackson in the third round; lo and behold, most of a very good offense was born. Walter Jones was handed to him by the prior regime and that's obviously huge, but Holmgren put it all together and made it work.

Of the picks that didn't work out? He's absolved for McIntosh, as Danny Darko says. Lamar King entered the draft as the small college Flavor of the Month and was a first-rounder on everyone's board. I think his worst draft was in 2002, in which most people think he was targeting Daniel Graham, traded down in the first round, lost out on Graham and took Stevens in a relatively unprepared panic move. Stevens did have first-round talent but few pegged him as a first-rounder because of the off-the-field issues and the high level of distractability -- exactly the reasons Stevens was driven out of town.

So, all in all, I do think Holmgren was a pretty solid GM. And maybe, just as the GM duties detracted from his coaching performance, the coaching duties also detracted from the GM performance. As a full-time GM? I'm intrigued. He has a great eye for quarterbacks and we're going to need that very soon.

[Danny Darko]

"He has a great eye for quarterbacks and we're going to need that very soon."

That right there is a pretty freaking good point... Cornerstone of the franchise decision right there. Lemme research Tim's QB picks in the past.

[Danny Darko]

Ok check it out. I found a pretty interesting history of Timmy's drafts dating pre-GM involvement in the Seattle Times.

As a GM:

2004: QB Matt Schaub (as assistant GM)
2005: QB David Greene

Involved in personnel in some way(but not GM):
1994: Trent Dilfer at 6
1999: Shawn King
2003: Chris Simms

Tim Ruskell's teams tend to go for defensive linemen in the first round and those defensive linemen tend to be from the South. Go back to 1992 when Ruskell was promoted to director of college scouting in Tampa Bay. Ruskell's employers have used 15 different first-round choices since then, and here's how those numbers break down:

9 of those first-round choices were used on defensive players.

6 of those first-round choices were used on defensive linemen

6 of those first-round choices came out of Florida colleges

3 of those first-round choices came from west of the Mississippi River. That would be DE Lawrence Jackson (USC), DE Regan Upshaw (Cal) and QB Trent Dilfer (Fresno State).

[Brandon-Clyde]

Holmgren came here as coach/GM. There's a reason why he lost the GM title.

This might be a very good thing. It is my belief that in Holmgens original stint as GM he did a very good job

Well, he didn't. His track record was lackluster, and despite Ruskell's misses he's done a much better job of finding NFL caliber players in the 2nd-3rd rounds.

Well as Ex-Hippie and Danny Darko both pointed out Holmgren had some very good selections including a league mvp and brought in through the draft/trade several pro-bowlers as well.