John Schneider apparently did not find much trade interest in Geno Smith at the Combine – at least that’s the conclusion we are drawing from a report that the Seahawks have told Smith he will be on the roster in 2024.

Per NFL insider Jordan Schultz, “The Seahawks have informed Geno Smith he will be on the roster in 2024 under his current contract. I’m told Smith has received commitment from Seattle’s front office.”

That is something that had seemed in doubt this week as both Mike Macdonald and Schneider had indicated no firm commitment to the 33-year-old quarterback.

But, based on the Schultz report, Smith seems set to start for a third season in Seattle. That doesn’t preclude the Hawks from making other moves at the position, of course.

They still want to bring back Drew Lock.

Schneider and his staff also are meeting with quarterbacks at the Combine, including expected top-three picks Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye.

“We have to be ready for anything,” Schneider said on his radio show Thursday. “We don’t know if there’s a certain trade that’ll go down or if something happens. I mean, you guys have seen players fall in the past and you’ve seen teams be able to jump up and have successful trades moving up into the top 10 to grab guys. So you just have to be prepared for everything and not just rule players out like, ‘Hey, we’re never gonna be able to draft that guy.’

“Now, there’s a couple of players in here where we’re kind of like, ‘OK, well, we’re probably not gonna have a shot at that guy,’ but we do study him, we do talk to him, we do get to know him as much as we possibly can without going over the top with it. But you have to know every player as much as you possibly can and not take any shortcuts.”

So that tells you Schneider – no surprise – is not considering moving into the top three. A move into the top 10 would require Seattle to surrender probably both third-rounders and/or more. It just doesn’t seem likely.

Talking about his lack of drafting quarterbacks (picking just two) over his 14 years in Seattle, Schneider made an interesting comment.

“It’s not like we haven’t tried to draft quarterbacks. … It’s always a different position because of the medical grades. Those medical grades pretty much stay the same with the quarterbacks. This group looks pretty good.”

Of course, one guy who has medical questions is Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., who had a lot of injuries in college and whose physicals at the Combine will weigh heavily on where he is drafted. Will he sneak into the first round or be picked in the second?

Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network has him ranked 38^th overall right now. As Jeremiah wrote, “He’s been through a litany of injuries during his career, but he managed to overcome them and led Washington to the national title game. Overall, durability is a legitimate concern, but I believe in his combination of vision, accuracy and arm strength.”

The Seahawks ideally would move down from 16 overall and pick up another Day 2 pick so they can have the flexibility to move around in the second round – especially if they decide they really want to reunite Penix with Ryan Grubb, his UW offensive coordinator who is now Seattle’s OC.

As NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein pointed out, “The Huskies’ offensive design helped declutter coverages for Penix, allowing him to throw a higher number of intermediate and deep passes.”

Another option at QB is for Schneider to take a fourth-round flyer on someone like Tulane’s Michael Pratt or Florida State’s Jordan Travis. This is not considered a strong Day 3 draft, so why not throw a dart at a QB in the fourth or fifth?

Based on history, though, there’s a good chance Schneider passes on drafting a QB again. He seems comfortable going with Smith and Lock for another season. But then what in 2025?

As we mentioned previously, Mike Holmgren and Pete Carroll did not get their franchise quarterbacks until their third years. Holmgren inherited Jon Kitna and used him in his first two years. Carroll had holdover Matt Hasselbeck in Year 1 and then Tarvaris Jackson (RIP) and Charlie Whitehurst in Year 2. So it would be pretty typical for the Seahawks if Macdonald didn’t get his new QB until 2026.

Smith is signed through 2025, owed $25 million and counting $38.5 million next year. If Schneider does not come up with Macdonald’s franchise quarterback this year, he will have another decision to make on Smith in 2025.