NFL

Edit: I did not include his coaching career because I wanted to focus on him as a player.

Welcome back everyone to my inconsistent series full of players that weren't exactly great, but more of the good/fringe great. Hell they might've even sucked but you remember them!

Today, I'll be talking about Jim Zorn. He wasn't just a mediocre Head Coach, he was a infuriatingly average to above average QB, who just so happened to have a legendary Wide Receiver, Steve Largent. (He was Jerry Rice before Jerry Rice was Jerry Rice if you don't know that name.)

Anyway! Back to Zorn!

Collegiate Career (1973-1974)

By way of...wtf? Cal Poly Pomona?? I've never heard of this school. What the hell. After being benched in Junior College because his coach didn't like his leadership style, Zorn transfered to Cal Poly Ponoma after he accepted a half scholarship.

He actually did okay there and earned All-American honors! Well..."Little" All-American honors but it still counts. He also earned Little All Coast and was named the Southern California College Division Player of the Year.

He was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1987 as his plaque reads, "The most acclaimed student-athlete in the history of Cal Poly Pomona athletics. A former head coach of the National Football League's Washington Redskins (2008-09), the Cerritos native established 44 school records during his two years at CPP and was named a Little All-American QB in 1983 where he led the nation in total offense."

Not too bad Zorn.

Professional Career (1975-1987)

He went undrafted amongst 19 other drafted QBs. Number one overall pick was Atlanta Falcons Steve Bartkowski, another decent pick was Steve Grogan...and that's about it. Nothing to write home about when it comes to QBs in this draft.

Zorn had decent size, being 6'2 and weighing 200 pounds. Maybe because he was a lefty? Idk. But he signed as an undrafted free agent with the Dallas Cowboys, didn't do jack on the practice squad, and was sent to be a bum for an expansion team.

Seattle Seahawks (1976-1984) Zorn was signed to the expansion Seahawks for a backup role, after sitting football out for a year. Immediately, he made heads turn with his ability to connect with his dynamic receiver, Steve Largent, earning the starting job.

The results? Well not too good. They only posted a 2 win season. Zorn set a record for attempts by a rookie in a season with 439 and led the league with 27 ints. Yeesh.

Next year saw some improvement though! They won 5 games, Zorn cut down on interceptions with 19 and upped his TDs with 16, but he only started in 10 games due to injury.

Finally, in only their 3rd year, Zorn helped guide them to a 9-7 record by posting 3,283 yards, 15 tds, 20 ints, on a 56% completion rate and added 290 rushing yards with 6 tds. (Largent also posted his first of many 1k seasons.)

More of the same in '79. Another 9-7 recprd and Zorn threw for 3,661 yards, 20 tds, 18 ints, on 56% completion with 279 rushing yards with 2 tds.

So in '80 the wheels sort of fell off and I couldn't find out why. The coordinators stayed the same, the head coach stayed the same, the offensive weapons were there...it just didn't translate to wins as the team underperformed. They had a 4-12 record and Zorn did Zorn things again. Over 3k yards, 18 tds, 20 ints, mid-50's completion rate, just...meh results?

Same thing in '81.

Nothing noteworthy of the strike shortened '82 season.

FINALLY! Something happened in '83. Team went 9-7 but our boy Zorn got benched for Dave Krieg after 8 games and going 4-4.

Unfortunately, Zorn would never regain a starting role consistently in the NFL, having small stints with Tampa Bay and Green Bay.

He retired after 11 years but still should hold his head high for his career because he accomplished some cool things. Such as:

• 2nd team all-pro in '78

• NFL All-Rookie team in '76

• Seahawks ring of honor

• His three consecutive 3,000-yard seasons were tops in team history, since broken by Matt Hasselbeck in 2005, and he was the first Seattle quarterback to record back-to-back 300-plus yard games—a feat he accomplished twice.[

Pro stats: TD–INT: 111-141 Passing yards: 21,115 Passer rating: 67.3 Rushing yards: 1,504 Rushing touchdowns: 17

He was actually named NFL.com's 8th best mobile QB in 2008. I bet he's unranked now but nevertheless, he did have am impact on the game.

An interesting article I found from Wordpress.com "Zorn was thrown to the wolves. Expansion franchises chew up and spit out quarterbacks like they chew up and spit out head coaches….from his second year through his fourth, and again in his sixth, Zorn performed above the league average. And unlike Krieg or Hasselbeck, he did it despite little surrounding talent."

Let me know what you think of the write up! What's good, what sucks. I'm a bored nfl fan in the offseason. I take requests, I just ask that the player be retired at least 10 years and is not in the Hall of Fame.

Here's some highlights: