TwinSisters
Veteran
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/nfl/news/2001/03/20/sayitaintso_seahawks/
Going into their second year, the Seattle Seahawks were still building. Thus, in the mind of GM John Thompson, the building needed bricks, not ornamental trim that stood to get crushed behind an expansion offensive line. Dorsett probably felt the same way, which is why his agent allegedly put out word that Dorsett wouldn't play for Seattle.
Tony Dorsett Tony Dorsett won the Super Bowl in his rookie year. Rick Stewart/Allsport
So even with Dorsett's NCAA rushing records and Heisman Trophy out there for the taking, the Seahawks went for quantity they could use over quality they likely would squander.
The third second-round pick* acquired in the deal bounced around in a pair of other trades that day that resulted in C Geoff Reece (L.A. Rams), WR Duke Ferguson (Dallas) and LB Peter Cronan (draft) also coming to Seattle.
"People can argue whether what we did at Seattle was good or bad," former Seahawks front office member Bob Ferguson said years later, "but all I know is that those guys all ended up starting for us and we went 9-7 in our third year in the league."
True. August, Beeson, Cronan, Lynch and Ferguson combined to play 317 games in a combined 24 seasons. Nothing you'll find in the highlight films, but they were there when the Seahawks needed them.
Dorsett, however, ran for more than 1,000 yards in eight of his first nine seasons, led the league in rushing during the strike-shortened '82 season (when his string of 1,000-yard campaigns was broken), won two Super Bowls and retired as the second-leading rusher in NFL history behind Walter Payton.