‘The starter until he’s not’: Is a trade viable?

“That’s a tough question, and it’s one that I probably can’t answer right now.” – Mike Macdonald on whether Geno Smith and Drew Lock will be on the team

Mike Macdonald seemed to answer the question raised by the Seahawks’ conversion of Geno Smith’s bonus last week: A trade is not off the table.

In an interview aired Sunday, KCPQ’s Aaron Levine asked the new coach, “Are Geno Smith and Drew Lock both involved in the future of this team going forward?”

Macdonald said, “That’s a tough question, and it’s one that I probably can’t answer right now. We’re doing a lot of work on those guys.

“Right now we’re in the phase of figuring out who they are. Obviously one or two or both would fit into our plan moving forward, but right now I probably don’t have that answer for you.”

At the Combine two days later, John Schneider also was noncommittal, saying Smith is “the starter until he’s not.”

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Why pay Geno now? The Combine is coming

Just a few days after Geno Smith’s 2024 salary became guaranteed, the Seahawks made a mildly surprising move to give him even more guaranteed money, converting his March roster bonus into a pay-now bonus to add $4.8 million in cap space.

Why did they decide to pay the $9.6 million now, three weeks before the league year begins and 25 days before it was technically due?

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Is a Geno trade coming?

Geno Smith is still the Seahawks’ quarterback, but there certainly are signs that he might not be for a whole lot longer – if John Schneider gets a trade offer he likes.

It was no surprise Smith was still on the roster as of Feb. 16, which triggered the guarantee on his $12.7 million salary. That means he will be Seattle’s QB in 2024 — unless another team trades for him.

Where does this trade talk come from all of a sudden? Directly: From Adam Schefter. Indirectly: From Mike Macdonald and new OC Ryan Grubb.

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Hawks are following Dan Quinn’s hiring trends; will it work for them?

The Seahawks might not have hired Dan Quinn as their coach, but John Schneider and Mike Macdonald sure took a couple of pages out of his coaching manual as they selected Macdonald’s coordinators.

The obvious tie is new DC Aden Durde, who worked for Quinn in Atlanta from 2018 to 2020. He now becomes the first British-born defensive coordinator in NFL history, and Macdonald surely is counting on his teaching abilities to help fix Seattle’s front seven. More on him later.

The more intriguing – and significant — hire is OC Ryan Grubb, who oversaw UW’s high-octane offense the past two years. There is a crazy Quinn-UW-Alabama triangle going on with this move.

The Hawks have to hope it works out better for them than it did for Quinn’s Falcons a few years ago or for most of the teams over the past 20-25 years that have tried to elevate a college play caller with no prior NFL experience.

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History says Geno will lead the Hawks to the playoffs in 2024, then be replaced

If history is any predictor, Geno Smith will lead the Seahawks to the playoffs in Mike Macdonald’s first season – and then be replaced shortly thereafter.

John Schneider has been involved in a new Seattle coach’s transition period with a lame-duck quarterback twice before and been instrumental in finding the franchise quarterback both times.  

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Cap situation, roster breakdown as Macdonald takes over

New Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald knows he is not walking into a locker room bereft of talent.

In his first presser Thursday, Macdonald said, “There (are) a lot of great players on this team. We’ve done a great job of drafting. It’s a young core. We’ve got a great opportunity to build a really competitive team sooner than later.”

That jibes with what John Schneider said in his presser after Pete Carroll was fired: “I think it’s a young, talented team that feels like it’s right on the cusp. … I think it’s a great core. I think we’re a very attractive job because of that. I think there’s young talent all over the place.”

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