Mel Kiper Gave the 2012 Seahawks Draft a C-; Bleacher Report Gave It an F

Russell Wilson is too polite to call the publication out by name, but he’s talking about Donald Wood’s Bleacher Report evaluation. The reasoning is extraordinarily humorous in retrospect:

Pete Carroll is proving why he didn’t make it in the NFL the first time. Not only was Bruce Irvin a reach at No. 15, the Seahawks proved they were oblivious to their madness by celebrating their selection. As if the day wasn’t bad enough, Seattle selecting Russell Wilson, a QB that doesn’t fit their offense at all, was by far the worst move of the draft. With the two worst moves of the draft, Seattle is the only team that received an F on draft day.

Of the draft, Bruce Irvin, Bobby Wagner, and Russell Wilson are starters (along with guard J.R. Sweezy), while Robert Turbin and Jeremy Lane remain on the roster. Mel Kiper wasn’t a huge fan of the haul, either (Insider subscription required) — who needs Wilson when you’ve got Matt Flynn?

Russell Wilson is a great test case for shorter QBs, because he has everything else, but did they need him in the third round after grabbing Matt Flynn to come in and likely start? … In terms of maximizing value, there are huge questions. Again, this is a grade of the draft process, not the players alone.

Kiper and Wood were far from alone; SI’s Chris Burke gave the class a ‘C‘ while CBS’ Pete Prisco gave the Wilson Pick a ‘D’. Even during his rookie season, Wilson faced doubters. Michael Lombardi, who was with NFL Network at the time and is now running the Browns, wrote that Seattle should bench the third round pick for Flynn.

The point of this is to say that when you click on draft grades this May, you should know better than to take them as the gospel. The better route is to go with funny images that capture how the pundit community reacted to the Bruce Irvin pick at the time it happened.