Curry and "The Boz" in relative comany?

With the recent news of Aaron Curry's injury to his groin, many people are discussing weather or not he will be a bust. Not just a bust, but a colossal bust at that.

Brian Bosworth, a once highest paid rookie in NFL history was number 6 on ESPN's Biggest Flops of the last 25 years. The "Boz", as he came to be known as, was a standout player at the University of Oklahoma before he was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 1987 NFL Supplemental. The Boz's 10 year $11 million dollar contract to play for the Hawks, at the time was the Hawks largest player contract in the history of the franchise. The Boz was supposed to be a power house Strong Side Linebacker, winning the coveted Butkus Award the first two times it was presented. Brian was named #30 on the College Football News "100 greatest college players of all time". How did all this translate to a terrible career in the NFL and ultimately a early retirement due to a chronic shoulder injury? Many say it was Seattle's decision to move him to weak side linebacker. Others might say it was his attitude and demeanor on the field. I really think it was the lack of film study by the Seahawks' scout system in the 80's. Either way, "The Boz" was a colossal bust.

So why is Aaron Curry's name being brought up in relative questioning to Brian Bosworth? Besides winning the coveted Butkus award Curry was the hype of all hype to be had surrounding college linebackers. While Bosworth was primarily a strong side linebacker in college, Curry played what is called a "SAM" linebacker. Basically, this meant Curry played the ball, wherever the ball went Curry went. Aaron's athleticism also allowed for him to play in space when zone coverages were needed and he often split out as a nickle back. This man was high on every NFL teams radar. Aaron Curry was considered by some to be the best player available in the entire 2009 NFL draft.

The "Boz" was a talented, hard hitting, smart linebacker, whereas, Curry is a talented, strong, coverage capable, pass rushing linebacker with great speed. The differences between these guys are just that different (skill sets anyway). The similarities are that of speculation, purely for the fact that Curry is now injured. We don't exactly know the extent of curry's injury as of now but that doesn't matter in relevance to this article. What is relevant is the nature of the contracts that were structured for these two linebackers. Curry now has the largest contract numbers in Seahawks history where "Boz" use to hold that record.

Yes this is all speculation at this point but what is so special about Curry to be guaranteed his career doesn't turn out like Bosworth's career? NOTHING that I can see. Curry may have been considered the BPA (best player available) in the 2009 NFL Draft but he did what many big time players do after being drafted; hold out for the big dollar contract. Now this doesn't necessarily mean a player is going to be a bust because he holds out, in fact, often times these players are worth every penny they hold out for. Aaron Curry, on the other hand, has already shown that his hold out was purely for money, not the normal "red tape" he and his agent had to go through to get the deal done. Aaron Curry sat on his rear end waiting for the big $. The nature of his injury (GROIN) is a tell tale sign that his conditioning took a back seat to his greed. If Curry was in fact, just wanting to play football, then he would have had the conditioning to handle the tempo of practices in the NFL without injuring his groin.

The speculation that Aaron Curry will be in familiar company with the "Boz" is all a little more apparent now that his injury has him sitting out another week of training camp; possibly longer.

This injury is most displeasing and has me on edge about our defense. Our secondary was suspect before the start of the season and now our top draft pick is suspect as well. Curry, your character is not what Tim Ruskell thought it was and now he might have to pay for it with a colossal bust!!!!!