Schneider already talking trade down

NFL draftIt looks like John Schneider is indeed poised to make his usual move down in the first round — apparently for an offensive lineman — but don’t expect any deal to be made until the Seahawks are on the clock Thursday.

The Falcons want to jump over a few teams for a pass rusher, per draft insider Tony Pauline. But they likely will want to make sure their guy is there when the draft hits pick No. 26.

The Seahawks, meanwhile, surely want to dangle the pick for as long as possible to get the best deal. The current talks involve Atlanta’s fourth-round pick, per Pauline — but that would be a poor return for Seattle.

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Will Schneider trade first pick for sixth straight draft?

NFL draft“You want to have picks all the way through. You kind of look at Cleveland’s board (11 picks) like, ‘Dang, it’s awesome.’” — John Schneider

John Schneider always wants more draft picks. In his seven Seattle drafts, he has never had fewer than eight. At this point, he has seven for this week’s draft — including an impressive five in the first three rounds — but he seems quite likely to add to his stockpile.

He still could add picks by trading Marshawn Lynch and/or Richard Sherman — although the Oakland Raiders and Lynch still have not worked out a contract and Schneider repeated he is not expecting a Sherman deal.

“We’ve kind of moved past that,” he said Monday, reminding everyone the price for Sherman remains high. “The guy’s one of the top cornerbacks in the league. You don’t just give him away.”

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‘Quarterbacks are going to drive this draft’

NFL draftThe problem with drafting in the bottom 10 picks of the first round is you are basically adding a second-round player for first-round money.

That’s largely why John Schneider has traded his first pick in each of the past five drafts — and is very likely to do it again, if the chance arises.

Twice in the last three years, Schneider has leveraged other teams’ desires for quarterbacks to net Seattle extra picks.

In 2014, with the Hawks picking last on the heels of their Super Bowl win, he let Minnesota come up from No. 40 to draft Teddy Bridgewater. He moved down another five spots in the second round and ended up with Paul Richardson, Cassius Marsh, Kevin Norwood and Kiero Small.

In 2016, Schneider got an even better deal, dangling Paxton Lynch to Denver, which paid a third-round pick to move from 31 to 26. The Seahawks used the 31st pick on Germain Ifedi and the third on Nick Vannett.

It looks like that same strategy could be in play again this year.

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The search for ‘spark’

Draft -- Schneider and Carroll“I think he’d admit that he had a rough year. So he’s looking for maybe a new spark and he’s either going to find that here in Seattle or he would find it somewhere else, but odds are he’s going to find it here.” 
— John Schneider on Richard Sherman.

That’s the key quote from Schneider’s interview with 710 ESPN on Thursday night.

Schneider also talked about mutual respect, constant communication and “a great relationship” between the Seahawks’ chiefs and the All-Pro cornerback. But the bottom line is in those words: “He had a rough year” and is “looking for maybe a new spark.”

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After Green Bay, schedule is not bad

2017 skedAside from a rough opener in Green Bay, the Seahawks got as good a schedule as they could have asked for as the NFL slate was announced Thursday.

They have no cold-weather games, only one 10 a.m. game and no back-to-back road games. They also play three of their four prime-time games at home and have a decently placed Week 6 bye.

The Seahawks will start the season with a very familiar foe as they head to Green Bay to play the Packers for the sixth time in six years. This one will bring a new twist as Eddie Lacy faces his old Packers teammates to open the season.

The Seahawks have not fared well in Green Bay, losing seven straight there by an average of 18.9 points, including a 38-10 blowout last December in which Russell Wilson played perhaps the worst game of his career.

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Hawks had an easy decision with Gilliam

GilliamWhy did the Seahawks let Garry Gilliam go to the 49ers?

It’s a question some fans are asking, but the answer is simple: They didn’t want to guarantee $1.4 million to a guy they probably were going to ask to take a pay cut this summer anyway.

It was a 50-50 proposition that the Seahawks were even going to tender Gilliam back in March, but they gave him the low tender, $1.8 million, because they were short on bodies.

When they were able to add Luke Joeckel and Oday Aboushi in free agency, it gave them the flexibility to bump Germain Ifedi to right tackle. With the 2016 first-round pick expected to win that job, Gilliam, the former undrafted player who struggled in 2016, looked destined for a backup role.

As they have done with many previous restricted free agents, the Hawks then would have asked Gilliam to take a pay reduction from the $1.8 million tender. So, when the 49ers came over the top with a $2.2 million deal that guaranteed almost the entire amount of the RFA tender, it was a pretty simple decision for the Hawks.

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Sherman trade odds and mock deals

NFL draftOne of the biggest storylines in the NFL over the next 10 days will be the status of Richard Sherman. Will the Seahawks find a trade partner before the draft begins April 27? Where will Sherman play in 2017?

A couple of bookmakers have set odds on his 2017 team, with the Seahawks favored to keep him at this point (opening odds in parentheses):

Seattle Seahawks -200 (+800)
New Orleans Saints +1000 (+300)
Oakland Raiders +1000 (+400)
Atlanta Falcons +1200 (+500)
Dallas Cowboys +1200 (+550)
Pittsburgh Steelers +1200
Green Bay Packers +1200 (+1600)
Tennessee Titans +2000 (+600)
Detroit Lions +2500
New England Patriots +2500 (+3000)
Philadelphia Eagles +2500
Jacksonville Jaguars N/L (+1200)

A few mock drafts have offered up potential trades involving these and other teams. Let’s take a look.

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Draft rumors: More QB bait, first-round TE?

NFL draftAmid rumors that John Schneider is talking with teams about a possible move up in this draft, he also appears to be prepping for his usual strategy — using a quarterback as bait to move down. But, in need of a backup QB, might he actually draft one?

A couple of years ago, the Seahawks had the chance to use one of their fourth-round picks on UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley, who seemed like he could be a perfect guy to groom as Russell Wilson’s backup.

Instead, the Seahawks drafted offensive lineman Terry Poole, who failed to make the team as a rookie or in 2016. And the Hawks moved on from Tarvaris Jackson in 2016, going with undrafted Trevone Boykin as Wilson’s backup.

After Boykin was arrested a few weeks ago, Schneider might be regretting his decision to pass on Hundley, who went to Green Bay in the fifth round of that 2015 draft. The Packers reportedly are poised to move him for a profit next year.

Schneider has been profiting off quarterbacks in the draft for the last few years, which probably explains why the Seahawks hosted Cal QB Davis Webb the other day.

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Schneider poised to make a few trades?

NFL draft“Who says we’re picking at 26?” — John Schneider in 2016 (and 2017?).

With the draft two weeks away, it looks like John Schneider could be getting ready to make some big moves.

On top of the Marshawn Lynch trade that seems destined to happen at any time and the potential Richard Sherman deal, Schneider is rumored to be talking to teams about moving up in the first round — which would be a first for him as Seattle’s general manager.

Reports early Thursday indicated the Seahawks and Raiders would end up working out a trade, assuming Lynch and the Raiders worked out a contract. On Thursday night, Lynch sent out a tweet that seemed to indicate he and the Raiders had come to terms, and it was reported as done Friday until Lynch seemed to set everyone straight.

Once it gets “real” with the Raiders, a deal between Seattle and Oakland would seem to be coming shortly after.

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Are Hawks capable of building a talented, consistent O-line?

Pete Carroll has said he wants to create continuity on Seattle’s offensive line.

He said he thinks Seattle’s young guys are going to improve and he hopes Luke Joeckel becomes part of the core. As he said after Joeckel signed, “Now that we have a good young bunch of guys, we’re going to try to keep this thing together.”

It’s debatable whether they have enough good guys yet, but the bigger question as pertains to Carroll’s stated goal: Will they ever be able to keep a quintet together in Tom Cable’s zone blocking system using their scattershot approach?

Whether it’s bad drafting, a bad scheme or just bad luck, Carroll’s Seahawks have had terrible fortune on the offensive line — typically fielding one of the weaker units in the NFL and annually needing to overcome its deficiencies just to get to the playoffs.

Why has it been so terrible? John Schneider and the coaches have consistently pointed to the disconnect between college and NFL offenses and the CBA-mandated lack of practice time.

But every team faces those issues. For Seattle, it has been more than that. It has been a complete inability to field a healthy, consistent line — and a total failure to set up a line of succession.

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