Cook’s Top 5: Seattle Seahawks Quarterbacks

From To The Moon to Let Russ Cook, Steve Cook has your Top 5 Seattle Seahawks QBs of all time!

The Seattle Seahawks are one of a number of franchises whose trajectory has changed during my life as an NFL football fan. When I was a kid, they were mired in the bottom half of the AFC West, occasionally contending for a division title but never really doing much. As I matured, the Seahawks matured as well, becoming a consistent presence in the playoffs. Now, they’re always expected to make the playoffs and are frequently considered contenders to win the whole thing.

Largely due to the quarterback at the end of this list. Don’t worry, we’ve got four other ones to talk about first! Here are the Top 5 Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks.

5. Warren Moon

You might recall Warren appearing in the Vikings Top 5 based off of some work he did in Minnesota at ages 38-40. After a highly productive career in Edmonton & Houston, Moon thought he still had some more in the tank. After three seasons in Minnesota, Moon still thought he had more in the tank. The Vikings disagreed, wanting him to be Brad Johnson’s backup & take a paycut. So he went to Seattle and became their QB1 at the age of 41. Turns out he had a little more in the tank, with 3,678 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and another trip to the Pro Bowl, where he was the game MVP.

It was pretty much Moon’s last hurrah, he started ten games for Seattle at age 42 with less inspiring results, then retired after two years in Kansas City as a backup. A heck of a run, and we’re not done talking about it yet.

4. Jim Zorn

Zorn was undrafted and didn’t quite make it into the league in 1975, but the newly founded Seahawks picked him up for their first season in 1976. After winning the AFC Rookie of the Year award, he became the main starting QB for the first seven seasons of the Seahawks. While there weren’t any playoff appearances, the Seahawks did manage to have two nine-win seasons early on with Zorn and their first Hall of Famer, wide receiver Steve Largent. He was named second team All-Pro in 1978, with his best statistical season coming in 1979 with 3,661 passing yards & 20 touchdown passes.

After retiring, Zorn went into coaching, with two stints in Seattle as an assistant. He was the second member of the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor, and is one of two quarterbacks currently in that group.

3. Matt Hasselbeck

Hasselbeck was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1998 and served as Brett Favre’s backup. He was traded to Seattle in 2001, where Mike Holmgren was serving as coach/general manager. Holmgren had been the Packers’ head coach when Hasselbeck was drafted, and he saw some potential there. Hasselbeck split time with Trent Dilfer early on, but would become the Seahawks’ QB1 for most of the 2000s. He led the Seahawks to five straight playoff appearances, equaling the number Seattle had made in the previous twenty-seven seasons. This included Seattle’s first trip to the Super Bowl, which some would tell you they would have won if not for incompetent officiating.

Hasselbeck was selected to three Pro Bowls during his time in Seattle. He never led the league in any relevant passing categories, but finished in the top ten a few times & was very good at limiting his mistakes. He might not have led your team to a championship, but you weren’t going to lose one because of something he did. Unfortunately, he was pretty injury prone & the Seahawks were never really able to find a great backup.

2. Dave Krieg

Krieg was one of those guys that came out of nowhere. Milton College in Wisconsin, to be exact. It was an NAIA school that closed just a couple of years after Krieg left. He didn’t get drafted, of course, but he did try out with the Seahawks and got a gig out of it. He found himself in the lineup in 1981 when Jim Zorn got hurt, and after a couple of switches ended up as the Seahawks’ QB1 in 1983. He wound up leading the Seahawks to their first playoff berth and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.

Krieg’s best season was in 1984, when top running back Curt Warner got hurt & coach Chuck Knox switched from a run-first offense to pass-first. Krieg had career highs in passing yards & touchdowns that season, and was selected to his first Pro Bowl. Krieg would go to three Pro Bowls during his time in Seattle, while leading the Seahawks to their first four playoff appearances. He held the franchise record for touchdowns until recently. Oh, and apparently he was also known as “Mudbone”, which I didn’t know until right this moment but is a pretty great nickname.

1. Russell Wilson

Wilson was drafted in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and was expected to back up Matt Flynn after the longtime Packer backup signed a large contract with Seattle. Wilson ended up taking the position during the preseason, and has started every Seahawks game since the beginning of the 2012 season. He’s been selected to the Pro Bowl seven out of his nine seasons in the NFL. He’s yet to throw under 3,118 yards in a season or for fewer than twenty touchdowns. His career high for interceptions came in 2020 with thirteen, but he also had a career high for touchdowns with forty, and was eight yards short of having a career high passing yards total.

Wilson hasn’t led the NFL in passing yards, and he’s only led the league in touchdown passes once. He’s been in the top ten for passing yards four times, and seven times for touchdown passes. Wilson’s Seahawks teams have only missed the playoffs once, and have never had fewer than nine wins in a season. The franchise won its first Super Bowl and went to another.

Tough to argue with that resume.

Thanks for reading! Join us next time when we take a look at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!