BRADY HENDERSON

Texans’ Arian Foster says Seahawks nearly drafted him

Oct 24, 2011, 12:08 AM | Updated: 9:48 am

By Brady Henderson

Seahawks fans still lamenting all the poor personnel moves made by former general manager Tim Ruskell may want to sit down for this one.

Texans running back Arian Foster told ESPN during a recent episode of “E:60” that the Seahawks nearly drafted him in the seventh round in 2009 before a brief phone conversation changed their minds.

Foster, recalling his experience during the 2009 draft, said “somebody from the Seattle Seahawks” called him during the seventh round, presumably with the intent of drafting him. He described the conversation like this:

“They said, ‘How do you feel about being picked?’ And I was so upset at the time (at not being drafted earlier) — and this is really bad — I was so upset at the time that my attitude was like, ‘Yeah, man. That’d be OK. Yeah.’ And I wouldn’t have picked me, either, honestly.”

The Seahawks made three selections in the seventh round — safety Courtney Greene with the 245th pick, defensive end Nick Reed with the 247th pick, and tight end Cameron Morrah one pick later. Morrah is the only one of those three still with the team. Reed collected one sack as a rookie but was released in training camp the following year after reaching an injury settlement. He’s now with the Bears, where Ruskell is the team’s director of player personnel. Greene was cut in training camp as a rookie.

Foster, meanwhile, went undrafted and spent most of his rookie season on the Texans’ practice squad. You know the rest — he exploded for 18 total touchdowns and over 2,200 total yards last season on his way to the Pro Bowl.

The episode of “E:60” is embedded below. Fast forward to about 7:35 for Foster’s account of the draft-day conversation. Thanks to “JC” for passing this along in our live chat during the Seahawks-Browns game.

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