Start with the draft. Here are all the QBs drafted in 2010:
| RD | SEL # | PLAYER | POSITION | SCHOOL | TEAM |
| 1 | 1 | Sam Bradford | QB | Oklahoma | St. Louis Rams |
| 1 | 25 | Tim Tebow | QB | Florida | Denver Broncos |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmy Clausen | QB | Notre Dame | Carolina Panthers |
| 3 | 85 | Colt McCoy | QB | Texas | Cleveland Browns |
| 4 | 122 | Mike Kafka | QB | Northwestern | Philadelphia Eagles |
| 5 | 155 | John Skelton | QB | Fordham | Arizona Cardinals |
| 5 | 168 | Jonathan Crompton | QB | Tennessee | San Diego Chargers |
| 6 | 176 | Rusty Smith | QB | Florida Atlantic | Tennessee Titans |
| 6 | 181 | Dan LeFevour | QB | Central Michigan | Chicago Bears |
| 6 | 199 | Joe Webb | QB | Alabama-Birmingham | Minnesota Vikings |
| 6 | 204 | Tony Pike | QB | Cincinnati | Carolina Panthers |
| 7 | 209 | Levi Brown | QB | Troy | Buffalo Bills |
| 7 | 239 | Sean Canfield | QB | Oregon State | New Orleans Saints |
| 7 | 250 | Zac Robinson | QB | Oklahoma State | New England Patriots |
Source: http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?type=position
Colt McCoy would be preferable to the third round pick spent on Whitehurst, but not many Seahawks fans would be chomping at the bit to have McCoy as their QBOTF right now. A miss, but not a devastating one. Joe Webb would be a nice guy to have on the roster, especially at a 6th round value, but again, not devastating to miss on him. Time will tell, but that’s a pretty crappy looking quarterback class. Even #1 overall pick, Sam Bradford has some questions to answer after a sub-par sophomore season.
Here are the quarterbacks drafted in 2011:
| RD | SEL # | PLAYER | POSITION | SCHOOL | TEAM |
| 1 | 1 | Cam Newton | QB | Auburn | Carolina Panthers |
| 1 | 8 | Jake Locker | QB | Washington | Tennessee Titans |
| 1 | 10 | Blaine Gabbert | QB | Missouri | Jacksonville Jaguars |
| 1 | 12 | Christian Ponder | QB | Florida State | Minnesota Vikings |
| 2 | 35 | Andy Dalton | QB | Texas Christian | Cincinnati Bengals |
| 2 | 36 | Colin Kaepernick | QB | Nevada-Reno | San Francisco 49ers |
| 3 | 74 | Ryan Mallett | QB | Arkansas | New England Patriots |
| 5 | 135 | Ricky Stanzi | QB | Iowa | Kansas City Chiefs |
| 5 | 152 | T.J Yates | QB | North Carolina | Houston Texans |
| 5 | 160 | Nathan Enderle | QB | Idaho | Chicago Bears |
| 6 | 180 | Tyrod Taylor | QB | Virginia Tech | Baltimore Ravens |
| 7 | 208 | Greg McElroy | QB | Alabama | New York Jets |
Could Seattle have traded up from #25 in the first round to get Jake Locker? Perhaps. Very few teams were convinced he was going to be a successful pro player heading into last year’s draft. He showed flashes of a great future in the chances he was given last season. If there is any regret, it is that the Seahawks would have had that #8 pick if they had lost to the Rams and failed to make the playoffs. Five years from now, will you wish you had Locker or the Beast Quake memory? Either way, there is no blame that can be placed on the front office. Seattle could have made an attempt to trade up for Blaine Gabbert or Christian Ponder. Neither appear worth the capitol it would have taken to move up and nab them. Andy Dalton is possibly the most controversial. He was selected 10 picks after the Seahawks chose RT James Carpenter. Word is, the Seahawks tried desperately to trade back, possibly to select Dalton. They could not find the right deal, and stuck to their guns about drafting talent at the level they saw it. Dalton had a very promising first year, but there aren’t many fans up-in-arms that the Seahawks don’t have him at the helm. He has the look of a good enough quarterback, but will he ever be great? The jury is out on that one. It’s too early to tell on the rest of the players. None of those players stand out a year later as major misses by the Seahawks.
Now, take a look at the free agent QBs available in 2010:
Derek Anderson
R.J. Archer
Richard Bartel
Charlie Batch
John Beck
Kyle Boller
Todd Bouman
Tom Brady
Tom Brandstater
Levi Brown
Mark Brunell
Marc Bulger
Jason Campbell
David Carr
Kellen Clemens
Brodie Croyle
Daunte Culpepper
Nate Davis
Jake Delhomme
A.J. Feeley
Charlie Frye
Jeff Garcia
Bruce Gradkowski
Quinn Gray
Chris Greisen
Rex Grossman
Matt Gutierrez
Gibran Hamdan
Graham Harrell
Tarvaris Jackson
Byron Leftwich
Matt Leinart
J.P. Losman
Josh McCown
Matt Moore
Matt Nichols
Keith Null
Kevin O’Connell
J.T. O’Sullivan
Kyle Orton
Jordan Palmer
Chad Pennington
Patrick Ramsey
Brett Ratliff
Chris Redman
Mike Reilly
Ben Roethlisberger
Jeff Rowe
JaMarcus Russell
D.J. Shockley
Chris Simms
Troy Smith
Jevan Snead
Jim Sorgi
Brian St. Pierre
Mike Teel
Charlie Whitehurst