Will Hawks & Pack trade another GM?

John Schneider draftingAre the Seahawks and Packers about to engage in another deal involving a football boss?

In 1999, the Seahawks sent the Packers a second-round pick for Mike Holmgren, who became Seattle’s coach and general manager. Among the former Packers personnel guys Holmgren hired early in his Seattle tenure was John Schneider, who then bounced back to Green Bay in 2002 and returned to Seattle to join Pete Carroll in 2010.

Now, 19 years after that Holmgren trade, the Packers reportedly are trying to get Schneider back for a third stint with the team.

The Seahawks reportedly turned down the Packers’ request to interview Schneider, so the story is over unless: (1) Schneider really wants to go back to Green Bay and (2) the Packers want to give up a draft pick or two for him.

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Report: Hawks are willing to pay Thomas

Salary cap logoSeattle is willing to pay Earl Thomas top of the market, Bradley McDougald is 70 percent to re-sign and Michael Bennett is 70 percent to be let go, according to “nuggets” from Davis Hsu, a reliable champion of Seahawks scuttlebutt on Twitter.

Also from Hsu’s source: Cliff Avril has a better chance to play again than Kam Chancellor, it looks like Byron Maxwell will return and Malik McDowell apparently has made some progress as he recovers from his ATV accident.

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The scenario where the Hawks trade Thomas

Salary cap logoEarl Thomas’ future in Seattle has suddenly come into question — thanks to his puzzling comments in the final weeks of the season and Pete Carroll’s lack of a firm answer about Thomas’ status.

We think the team will extend Thomas, but it’s entirely possible Thomas has been speaking out of knowledge that Seattle is not interested in extending him.

Trading Thomas would not make any football sense, of course, because the Seahawks don’t have anyone nearly as talented and are already thin at safety with Kam Chancellor possibly done playing and Bradley McDougald a free agent.

But there is a scenario where Carroll and John Schneider might decide dealing their 28-year-old Pro Bowl free safety is their best move: If they really want to pay to keep Sheldon Richardson and if Chancellor decides he wants his injury-guaranteed salary, the Hawks would have to make salary cap room for both.

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Hawks are ready for defensive changes

Draft -- Schneider and CarrollAfter two days of talking by the players and Pete Carroll, we’ve learned a few tidbits about the Seahawks’ personnel and upcoming decisions as they sit out the playoffs for the first time in six years.

A lot of people think the defense is in complete disarray and has to be rebuilt almost from scratch. Don’t tell that to Bobby Wagner, K.J. Wright, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Frank Clark, Jarran Reed, Nazair Jones and Shaq Griffin. Those eight are all under contract for at least 2018 and figure to key a resurgent Seattle defense next season.

Carroll said he views it like 2011-12, when he was developing his Super Bowl core.

“There is a young nucleus and a new nucleus of guys that have come to us,” he said, referencing Bradley McDougald, Dion Jordan and Terence Garvin. “They’re part of that (2017 draft) class (which included Jones and Griffin) as well and the class from last year. These are good groups of guys now, so we’re very optimistic about the roster.”

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