The Seahawks actually gave away two third-round picks for Quenton Nelson.
There was the one they gave the Colts in the trade (along with a future 5), and there was the one they cut to make room for the All-Pro guard.
It’s a great lesson about how John Schneider should always approach his third-rounders: Trade them. For players, for higher draft picks, for a cup of coffee. Just get rid of them.
Continue reading Schneider has found better ways to use his third-rounders
This Seahawks-Commanders game is a good occasion to laud John Schneider for his work in replacing Pete Carroll about 32 months ago.
Dan Quinn was a natural candidate, considering his ties to the Seahawks under Carroll. But Schneider decided to go in a new direction, and he sniped Mike Macdonald from Washington, which then settled on Quinn (the third choice behind Ben Johnson, who stayed in Detroit that year, and Macdonald).
Quinn looked like a great consolation pick when he and rookie QB Jayden Daniels surprisingly led the Commanders to the NFC title game in 2024. But it has been all downhill since then. Quinn was 12-5 in his first season, plus two playoff wins, but he is 5-14 since then – including an 0-2 start heading into this game against the Seahawks.
Continue reading ‘This is the future’: Schneider was prescient in 2024
It looks like Russell Wilson has decided it is time to move on from football – at least on the field.
The Seahawks legend, whose career flamed out with three teams over the past four years, is going to join Nate Burleson and the gang on “The NFL Today.”
This was hinted at last month, when Wilson was in the news a bunch — and the jokes flew fast and furious. He looked overweight in a cameo with the Savannah Bananas, like he had eaten one too many banana splits. He then had a visit with the Jets about possibly doing a role reversal and backing up Geno Smith, his former understudy in Seattle. And then he was reported to be in advanced talks to replace Matt Ryan on “The NFL Today” – which is where he apparently is now headed.
It sounds like he would love to play, if a team gets desperate. But otherwise this seems like a move to retirement, driven by the fact that he is no longer an effective player at age 37.
Continue reading How Russ went from lovable underdog to unlikeable loser
One of the cool things about the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl in February was the longtime veterans who got rings out of it.
Some of the thirtysomethings — Jason Myers, Leonard Williams, DeMarcus Lawrence and Jarran Reed – played huge roles. Then there were former Seahawks whom John Schneider and Mike Macdonald brought back – like Shaq Griffin and Quandre Diggs – who were mostly along for the ride. Macdonald got them the rings that Pete Carroll could not.
Diggs recently talked to Brian Nemhauser (HawkBlogger) about why the Carroll era ended, why he followed Carroll out the door in 2024 and why he wanted to come back last November even though he knew his on-field role might be minimal.
Let’s walk through Diggs’ journey, from the 2019 trade that brought him to Seattle to the end of the Carroll era and Diggs’ return for a shot at the Super Bowl.
Continue reading Diggs talks about his Seattle circle of life and end of Carroll era
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.
Continue reading Why it took so long for Schneider to win the exec award
After the 2024 season, a lot of Seahawks fans wanted John Schneider to be fired. They were understandably tired of his failure to put together an even average offensive line throughout his 15 years as general manager, and they were annoyed by a 2024 offseason that seemingly had done little to help the franchise.
It’s surprising how quickly things can change. Amid a 7-2 start that has featured major contributions from half a dozen new players and proven that Sam Darnold is indeed a franchise quarterback, Schneider has been getting a lot of credit.
In fact, in a survey of 42 NFL decision makers by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, 23 voted him as the executive of the year at the midseason point.
Continue reading How Schneider built a Super Bowl contender as fans called for his firing
This weekend is all about the past meeting the present as the Seahawks face the Bucs in their 50th anniversary seasons and the Mariners host their first playoff games since 2001.
Emeka Egbuka apparently ties it all together.
Before he was Tampa Bay’s first-round receiver this year, Egbuka was a youth baseball star who threw out the first pitch at Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) in 2011. Then he was on the same Ohio State team as Jaxon Smith Njigba.
Egbuka will return to Seattle to face JSN as the Bucs and Seahawks square off in a big battle of 3-1 teams on Sunday, before the Mariners play Game 2 of their division series.
Continue reading It’s a full-circle weekend for Egbuka, the Bucs, Hawks and Mariners
We haven’t seen Sam Darnold and the starting skill players in action yet – that apparently will happen a bit this week against the Chiefs – but the first preseason game showed everything we need to know about what this Seattle offense is trying to do.
If it succeeds, as we expect it to, the Seahawks should be well poised to repeat their 2011-13 ascent and come away with a Super Bowl trophy in Mike Macdonald’s third year (like Pete Carroll did in his fourth year).
Let’s run through the similarities that make us think this is how it is going to go.
Continue reading Hawks are setting up for another 2012-13 run
Whether it has been draft misses, bad (or no) free-agent signings, poor coaching or injuries, Seattle just has not fielded a good offensive line during the majority of John Schneider’s tenure – that’s 15 seasons of mostly bottom-10 rankings.
Despite another whiff in free agency in 2025, Schneider has a chance to turn that around. But he needs to do something he has tried only a couple of times: Create continuity with top talent.
We’d call that living the dream.
Continue reading Will Schneider deliver the dream: O-line consistency?
Byron Murphy said he loved watching the Legion of Boom Seahawks when he was a kid. (For some of us a decade is not that long ago, but for a 21-year-old it was half his lifetime ago.)
The LOB was a dominant defense with a core that John Schneider put together mostly through the 2010-12 drafts: Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, K.J. Wright, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, Bruce Irvin. Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett (Murphy’s favorite player on that defense) were the only core outside additions. And that group of stars dominated the NFL from 2012 to 2016.
Schneider has not been able to replicate that magic over the past decade. He had the perfect chance to do it again in 2016 and 2017, but he absolutely whiffed on most of his 11 picks on Days 1 and 2. Ever since those failures, he has been patching together his defense with trades for veterans.
But, thanks to three straight years with high picks in the draft, maybe he finally is building another core – this time for Mike Macdonald.
Continue reading Is a new homegrown defense in the offing?
