John Schneider was named executive of the year for the first time Thursday, and a lot of people are saying, “It’s about time” – as if Schneider has deserved it annually for years.

But the fact is he has not really merited the award since he helped create the last Super Bowl roster for Seattle. That was way back in 2012-13.

He did not win it back then because he had steadily created that team over four years – with the historically stellar 2010-12 drafts and a couple of inexplicably fortuitous signings in 2013 that put the Hawks over the top.

His 2012 draft actually was widely panned at the time, but Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner and Bruce Irvin helped the team win 11 games that year. In 2013, Schneider somehow added Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett on bargain deals – and they were huge factors in the team winning the Super Bowl. But Schneider’s friend John Dorsey won the exec award because he and first-year Chiefs coach Andy Reid vaulted their team from two wins to 11.

Schneider really struggled to draft well from 2013 to 2019, as we outlined in critiques of him in 2018 and again in 2020. His next best chance to win the award came in 2022, when he traded Wilson for a boatload of players/picks and the Hawks bucked the predictions and made the playoffs with Geno Smith at quarterback (they were blown out though by the 49ers).

But Howie Roseman won the exec award as his Eagles won 14 games and advanced to the Super Bowl.

Schneider won the award this year because he made a bunch of big moves that have the Seahawks on the doorstep of the Super Bowl. We outlined how he built this roster from 2022 until now, including his 2025 moves to trade Smith and DK Metcalf; sign Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and DeMarcus Lawrence; draft Grey Zabel and Nick Emmanwori; and trade for Rashid Shaheed.

Behind those stellar moves and the coaching brilliance of Mike Macdonald, the Hawks won 14 games and are now a win away from the franchise’s fourth Super Bowl.  

Here is Schneider in a nutshell: He is great in the draft when picking 20^th or higher; but, when he has been lower than that, he does not do nearly as well.

His top picks from 2013 to 2019 were never higher than 27^th, and most were busts: Christine Michael (62), Paul Richardson (45), Frank Clark (63), Germain Ifedi (31), Malik McDowell (35), Rashaad Penny (27), L.J. Collier (29).

He has had five first-round picks in the top 20 in the past four drafts, and he has hit on all of them: Charles Cross (9), Devon Witherspoon (5), Jaxon Smith Njigba (20), Byron Murphy II (16), Grey Zabel (18).

These guys are all a huge part of the core going forward.

Schneider also has hit on three big midseason trades over the past three years: Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones IV and Shaheed.

So this has been a steady build again, just like 2010-13, but Schneider just happened to pull a bunch of big levers last offseason – swapping out QBs, trading his top receiver, etc. – that helped put the Hawks in the position they are in now.

Of course, none of it will matter to Schneider if the Hawks don’t beat the Rams on Sunday and then win the Super Bowl on Feb. 8. That would validate all of his work.