Future Of The Seahawks

Tim Martinez, assistant Sports editor of The Columbian, brought up a great point about new Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.

Isn’t Carroll — the guy charged with turning the Seahawks into contenders, with molding a new franchise through guile and moxie and the ability to evaluate and then teach players — isn’t he the same guy who strongly advised Mark Sanchez to stay in school a year ago?

From the Los Angeles Times last year:

“The facts are so strong against this decision,” Carroll said. “After analyzing all the information, the truth is there — he should’ve stayed for another year.”

Carroll cited a study that shows 62 percent of underclassmen quarterbacks who declare early for the Draft eventually don’t pan out in the NFL. He also pointed to Sanchez’s NFL Draft evaluation, which projected Sanchez as a second-round selection.

“Mark’s chance to increase his value and become the top player in college football next year would have been worth $10-$20 million or more — likely more,” Carroll said. “One more year of running a team is almost priceless, so he lost the chance to fully prepare himself and become the very best he could be before going to the NFL.

“That’s why there’s a 62 percent failure rate for underclassmen quarterbacks.”

That would be the same Mark Sanchez who was the fifth pick in the draft and now has his team one win from the Super Bowl.