3161

Talk radio loves to say stuff like that. Curry may not have lived up to his draft position, but he’s still in the league. That puts him hair and shoulders above Brian Bosworth.

3162

Going back to the SF discussion for one moment: FO has them with the 26th hardest schedule so far (e.g., one of the easiest) and the easiest schedule for the remainder of the season. They’re certainly playing better, but they’re also playing a pretty cupcake schedule.

On the other hand they have them at #2 in DVOA thus far (behind the Bills), which is not nothing. On the other other hand opponent adjustments are still pretty weak (the D part of DVOA) so they’ll probably fall some. Still, they’re definitely a legit team.

3163

You can say a lot of shit about Brian Bosworth, but the man got his.

3164

Curry is just an odd case where his skills and the direction the team took on defense after he was drafted just don’t seem to have been a good match. Which is another way of saying that he’s not proven to be an all around good linebacker but rather seems better suited to certain things. If he goes to the Raiders and develops into a pro bowl player then people here will be upset, but even by mid-season last year there were starting to be questions about him.

As an all-time bust, probably not. At least he was a decent player. That’s more then you can say about a bunch of Seahawk first rounders over the years, like Dan McGwire to Lamar King to Lawrence Jackson. Curry probably is the highest first round failure they’ve had, though, being only their seventh top five or better pick in franchise history. Depending on how you view Rick Mirer, anyway. ;-)

3165

Question: Is Alex Smith still considered a bust? I mean he’s been the starter forever now.

3166

Yes, but he’s not anywhere close to Ryan Leaf or JaMarcus level bust. He just didn’t live up to the billing of being a #1 draft pick. Whether the blame is on him or Niner teams he’s been on can be debated but he’s a bust just because he was expected to be top level franchise QB. Also he lost the starting job a couple of times too so he hasn’t continuously been the Niners starting QB.

3167

I’m not sure how closely Sarkus follows the Seahawks, but I have to disagree with him here. The problem with Aaron Curry is not a simple matter of “great athlete put in a scheme that doesn’t suit him.” It’s more a matter of his being an above average college athlete who dominated his opponents physically in college due to the talent disparity but in the NFL against equal (and better) talent he could no longer rely on being bigger, faster, stronger. In the NFL you have to add technique to that talent and, more importantly, you have to be intelligent… you have to be able to see what’s happening and act accordingly.

The Seahawks tried nearly everything with Curry. In every scenario, he demonstrated an inability to diagnose plays (even a basic high school level diagnosis of run/pass), he demonstrated piss poor tackling technique in space, he demonstrated an utter lack of pass rushing technique, and when you add all that together, you get bust. Especially for a linebacker taken in the first round, let alone number 4 in the first round.

While he’s not on par with spectacular busts like Rick Mirer and Brian Bosworth, he is certainly a part of that conversation. Aaron Curry is awful. He can probably go dominate in the CFL but he is not an NFL linebacker.

Aaron Curry is not a “decent” player. Decent players don’t get benched and then traded for a song. Aaron Curry is a bust and the coaching staff in Oakland will be wise to rely on him only when the outcome of the game is no longer in question.

3168

The guy he’s replacing is not much better. The Raiders have no standout linebackers. They have the second worst defense in the league. They can only go up from here. McClain may not be able to play on Sunday so you may see Curry much earlier than what you would suggest is prudent.

And decent players do get benched and traded for a song. Ask Jim Plunkett. I’m sure Alex Smith was on the verge of being traded in SF. Lots of players out there who don’t fit on one team but do well in a different environment. The sad part is when the first team basically spent all the money on a player that didn’t work out for them. That doesn’t mean he won’t work out for anyone.

3169

Santonio Holmes to the Jets comes to mind, too.

3170

Curry’s still five and a half sacks ahead of Vernon Ghoslton.

3171

Yeah. Coming out of the NFC West they are never going to have a highly-rated schedule, especially this year. But they are winning games and not in some smoke and mirrors fashion. They stop the run, beat the blitz, and lock it down in the red zone. And now that they are running the ball well, these are recipes for a win against any team. I still don’t see them as more than a 10 win team but I don’t see them suddenly playing terrible. The Lions, if they win, are not going to clobber them. I don’t think anyone is going to clobber them this season. I am almost more interested in seeing how the Lions play because they have not always played with discipline in their games and have bailed themselves out in the second half.

This is a damned good question. Smith is an edge case in the bust debate. Technically you have to call him one, I mean he should have been established as a franchise QB years ago or out of the league entirely by now (JaWalrus) or at best, a perennial journeyman backup (Carr). Busts don’t last. But SF was a perfect storm if you will. When they truly sucked Alex was still new to the league so SF didn’t want to draft another QB with a high first round pick so soon. Later, they always managed to scrape out 6 or 7 wins and the draft always seemed to only have 1 or 2 top rated QBs that were long gone by the time SF drafted.

Plus, Alex is a smart guy. In fact overthinking has been his biggest enemy (next to a shitty O line). When you think of true bust QBs, you think of belligerent dumbasses like Russell and Leaf. You’d get a new OC nearly every year in SF and Alex has always been good in practice, so coaches seemed to like him (the only one who seems to have not was Mike Nolan, who called him a wuss essentially for playing with a separated shoulder all season). So he stuck around. He even took a pay cut to stay around, yeah SF is likely his last stop but still.

It’s quite frankly perhaps one of the most shocking turnarounds in NFL history, that he’d suddenly excel because Harbaugh tweaked the offense. A lot of people though Harbaugh was out of his gourd when he said he thought a lot about Alex and wanted him to play. The preseason was a laughable exercise in failure. I’d love to watch the SF/SD game again because I am thinking that was when they introduced the scheme they use now and that was why they clobbered SD in that game.

So: yes, he is a bust for a first overall pick, but maybe not as a football player.

3172

It should also be noted that in addition to having a lot of different offensive coordinators, most of them were really really bad. It’s hard to say whether Jim Hostler or Jimmie Raye was the worst, but the only good one was Norv Turner.

3173

That Mike McCarthy guy ain’t half bad either.

3174

Yeah. Smith’s best season as a starter was Norv’s second year with SF.

He was with SF. 32nd rated offense. Mike has learned a lot since then, though (obviously).

3175

Here’s an interesting fact regarding Curry that may or may not be important. In many statistical rankings (tackles, etc.), with the exception of one, Curry is has been as or more productive since he was drafted then a much more highly thought of linebacker taken in the same first round. That other guy? Clay Matthews, who has a huge lead in sacks.

I don’t disagree with the details of Ryan’s criticisms. Curry has had clear problems since he arrived in Seattle. On the other hand, he isn’t such a disaster at the position that they were desperate to find someone else - he just wasn’t good enough to start once better alternatives came along. And they aren’t trading him for a song, they are getting a performance based pick for him in 2013, so if he turns out to be good they will get a solid pick. He was traded right now because he had clearly checked out on the team once he wasn’t the starter anymore.

This really comes down to whether you think Curry has a chance to be a better player in different circumstances. He may not, but a lot of people better suited to make that determination then Ryan or I think there is a chance he could.

But the top of the 2009 draft is a mess anyway, so its not like Seattle is alone in whiffing that year in early picks.

3176

This. McCarthy has obviously done a great job with Rodgers, but he was terrible for the 49ers and it was kind of amazing when he got hired by the Packers. Part of that was probably talent, since the Niners didn’t have a decent receiving corps till a year ago and they STILL have OL problems, and part of it was probably Mike Nolan playing Smith as a rookie rather than giving McCarthy three years to fix his mechanics. But the fact remains that he was the coordinator of the worst offense in the league that year. Whatever he was doing didn’t exactly play to the team’s strengths.

3177

My goodness, you’re right. I’d forgotten how bad this draft was. I remember the Redskins RACING to take Orakpo at 13 after Denver took Knowshon Moreno instead. You could make an argument that Orakpo is the second-best player in the first round of the draft, ahead of Josh Freeman, Hakeem Nicks, and Matthew Stafford, but behind Clay Matthews.

3178

A big part of it is the ridiculous depth the Lions have on the defensive line – their second stringers would easily be starting for most teams (heck, they cut Turk McBride before the season, he’s starting for the Saints). They constantly rotating guys through to change things up and keep the starters fresh, so that come late in the game you’ve got a full-strength Suh & Co. beating the crap out of a tired O-line.

But, yeah, overall it’d help if they’d figure out how to pair up a great first half to go with their q3/q4 performances :)

3179

You are right about that…

I thought his biggest enemy was his tiny hands?

3180

Sure seemed that way in his first 3 years with 27 fumbles! He’s only had 10 since, though.