Bobby Wagner vs Mychal Kendricks after their first 16 games

I know I am not the only one leading up to the draft who thought that Kendricks has just about everything Pete and John could want in a Linebacker, as he was probably the most athletic LB in the draft. And I am probably not the only one who guessed that Pete and John may have been a little pissed when Philly took Kendricks one pick ahead of Seattle in Round 2. The fact that the Hawks took Wagner with the very next pick means they likely were at least considering Kendricks for that round 2 pick (until Philly nabbed him). I wondered if we possibly "settled" for Wagner (even though I was familiar with him and knew he was a very good player).

Well, after their first regular season, it is easy to see that regardless of what they would have done if both Kendricks and Wagner had been available at that pick, the Hawks struck gold in Wagner. He is everything you could want for a MLB (rookie or otherwise): Tackling machine, freak athlete, quick learner, constantly improving, leader, and my favorite: never a hint of injury that I can recall.

For comparison sake: Wagner finished with 140 tackles, 2 sacks, and 3 interceptions. Kendricks finished with 75 tackles and 1 sack. From what I can tell, Kendricks did not have a bad year or anything. He moved from SAM to WILL partway through the year and his game improved, but he is no Wagner.

So, once again, I guess I would just like to thank Philly. First for picking Brandon Graham one pick before we took Earl Thomas so we were never tempted by Graham, and second, for picking Kendricks ahead of Wagner. Love ya!

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Hey! I loved Lofa!

But Wagner is the shiznit, for sure.

morgulon1":2rigidcm said:

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Click to expand...

No need to besmirch an all time great Hawk just because his position is now occupied by another awesome player. Lofa was a warrior who gave us everything he had and led our defense to a superbowl.

morgulon1":1cad2nn9 said:

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Click to expand...

Russell Okung made his first Pro Bowl and Golden Tate had 100 yards receiving yesterday. Walter and Steve who?

I would love to move up in the draft to select Jarvis Jones out of the University of Georgia to take the place of Leroy Hill, in my opinion. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with players from the SEC, but Jarvis Jones is big time. He would be another great addition to our defense and would help with the pass rush.

Very happy to see Bobby have the year he did. He did a great job for us this year and it will continue into the playoffs.

Missing_Clink":fuooxx71 said:

morgulon1":fuooxx71 said:

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Click to expand...

No need to besmirch an all time great Hawk just because his position is now occupied by another awesome player. Lofa was a warrior who gave us everything he had and led our defense to a superbowl.

Click to expand...

All time great? The guy was good when he played but he only played like 2 healthy seasons.

therealjohncarlson":1k3egw01 said:

Missing_Clink":1k3egw01 said:

morgulon1":1k3egw01 said:

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Click to expand...

No need to besmirch an all time great Hawk just because his position is now occupied by another awesome player. Lofa was a warrior who gave us everything he had and led our defense to a superbowl.

Click to expand...

All time great? The was good when he played but he only played like 2 healthy seasons.

Click to expand...

On this team he IS an all time great. Jeez, Levon Kirkland could stake claim as the 5-6th best MLB for this team, that's how poorly the position has been manned over the years!

therealjohncarlson":dva1ukbp said:

Missing_Clink":dva1ukbp said:

morgulon1":dva1ukbp said:

140 tackles? Lofa who?

Click to expand...

No need to besmirch an all time great Hawk just because his position is now occupied by another awesome player. Lofa was a warrior who gave us everything he had and led our defense to a superbowl.

Click to expand...

All time great? The guy was good when he played but he only played like 2 healthy seasons.

Click to expand...

All time great? Not in NFL terms, but he was voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. That's something Wagner won't be able to top him on.

Not an all-time NFL great, not even close, but Lofa was a key, key Seahawks player, the missing piece of the puzzle that allowed the Seattle D to rise from "awful" to "average" in 2005, so that our "awesome" offense outscored what our usually-awful D put up, and got us to the Super Bowl. Without Lofa, we don't make it to the Super Bowl. Lofa made the calls on D as a rookie, which says a lot. Lofa gave his all when he was healthy, but the body was shot and tank on E by the time PC/JS came on board.

Not that it was even remotely the point of my post, but I wrote "all time great Hawk" when describing him. Not "all time NFL great". Its not like the Hawks have a storied history at MLB. I consider him to be one of the best MLBs the team has ever had, even if it was too briefly.