No longer a child, not yet middle-aged, and still finding their place in the NFL world.

...the 30-year wall of silence is an impressive achievement for a League that leaks as a lifestyle.

He recommended Jack Patera enthusiastically for the Seahawks...

The letter C is coming soon!

The Seahawks used Williams’ local reputation as a promotional tool, as they would do (very briefly) with Ahmad Rashad.

The average Seahawk selected in the veteran allocation is 6-2, 222 pounds, just under 26 years old and is entering his fourth NFL season.

The Seahawks played the Rams...facing off against future Seahawk coaches Chuck Knox, Tom Catlin and Ken Meyer.

...management decided early to pursue coaches with no NFL head coaching experience.

Patera had the boldness to recruit 3 coaches with no NFL service...

...why was there no place for one of the ultimate local heroes of the early 1970s – Sonny Sixkiller?

Thompson may have looked on paper like a conservative and safe manager for a new team with first-time owners, but...

...reports from the camp are unclear as to who did the special team evaluations.

As a defensive coach, Jack Patera valued his linebackers.

Maybe we'll come up with something soon!

...nobody else on the Seahawks squad took their dislike quite to the extent of Ahmad Rashad.

The Nordstroms were an obvious possibility because of their wealth and local presence.

Approximately 14 members of that squad would never play for the Seahawks again.

A simple lesson in draft history is to list the fate of quarterbacks for several years before 1976.

Jack Patera was unable to take a single Redskin veteran from the allocation list.

...the Seahawks’ offense would be directed by 3 men who had 2 years of NFL experience between them

Terry Brown’s Seahawk career lasted less than 24 hours.

...we think this story might just have been a good Patera Prank!

While Patera had an inside edge on stocking his team with Vikings, he only chose one Viking from the allocation...

Character would clearly play a part...

Patera lived up to his code of we will tolerate you until we can replace you...

Yes! We will have something for Y eventually!

What more need we say?

The Redskins are one of the mysteries in the veteran allocation. Despite finishing 8-6 in 1975, making them the best-placed team outside the NFC playoffs, and despite considerable expectation that George Allen was poised for a better season in 1976, neither expansion team saw much on offer in the Redskins’ allocation list.

As with the Raiders, Jack Patera was unable to take a single Redskin veteran from the allocation list. Art Kuehn doesn’t count: the Redskins held his NFL rights after drafting him in 1975, but he had signed for the WFL and had never been part of the Redskins system. John McKay could find only 2 veterans (Dan Ryczek and Ken Stone, who both went on to productive careers though they left Tampa Bay in 1977 and 1978 respectively).

Seattle did pick up RB Ralph Nelson after he was delisted by Allen after the end of the pre-season, but for a team that was built on veterans who seemed to fit Patera’s philosophy of recruiting experience as a basis for training his rookies, the lack of interest in the Redskins’ list is surprising.

Did Patera and McKay decide that the Over The Hill Gang was too far over the hill even for them? Had Allen pulled off another of his master tricks by submitting a veterans’ list that was so poor that not even an expansion team would bite?

The Redskins finished 10-4 in 1976, keeping 30 members of their 1975 squad. 17 others from that squad didn’t play for Allen in 1976, including Nelson, Ryczek and Stone. Since Allen had 32 protected players, he may have been able to shield all 30 of the holdovers, while putting his fringe players up for allocation. But was a fringe player for George Allen so poor that only 2 of them came under consideration?

One reason for concentrating on the Redskins here is to raise a great what-if question: did they put Joe Theismann into the allocation draft?

Looking at Allen’s 1975 squad, Theismann should have been a fringe quarterback, burdened with unrealized expectations and the scorn of the critics (see Quarterbacks). But did Allen see the future better than the experts, and shield the future Hall of Famer? Or did Patera and McKay miss their chance?