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
Michael Jackson and Darrell Taylor always seemed destined to move on before Mike Macdonald’s Seahawks ever played a real game, so it was no surprise the backup defenders were traded on consecutive days this week.
Taylor’s departure, which really comes a year too late, marks the end of John Schneider’s 2020 draft class – none of whom made it to a second contract in Seattle as Taylor’s $3.1 million returns to the Hawks’ salary cap.
Continue reading Hawks traded Taylor a year too late; Metcalf only 2019-20 pick left
“Guys get overdrafted at (guard) and, in my opinion, they get overpaid.” – John Schneider on Seattle Sports 710
The NCAA tournament begins this week, and Seahawks fans are enduring their annual March madness over John Schneider’s disinterest in building a strong offensive line.
Schneider just doesn’t like to spend on the unit. In eight of the last 10 years, the Hawks have ranked 26th or worse in money paid along the line, according to OverTheCap. This year, just like 2016, the Seahawks have the cheapest offensive line in the NFL. And it very likely will remain that way.
Continue reading March Madness: Schneider never invests much in O-line
Drew Lock still has a shot at Seattle’s starting quarterback position. So perhaps does Jimmy Garoppolo.
With Lock unable to start Thursday because of Covid-19, Geno Smith had his chance to lock down the position – and he didn’t do it.
In a terribly messy 27-11 preseason home loss to Chicago, Smith failed to lead Seattle to any points in the first half. The Hawks punted five times and missed a field goal off Smith’s drives. He hit just 10 of 18 passes for 118 yards – with 41 coming on a pass to Penny Hart. It was just the latest struggle for Smith to get his offense into the end zone (he also didn’t have a lot of help from a line that committed too many penalties and lost Damien Lewis to an ankle injury).
Continue reading Even with Lock sick, Geno can’t claim QB1
We’re a week away from what is likely to be one of the least consequential drafts in Seahawks history, but you know John Schneider will do everything he can to make it a lot more interesting than it has any right to be.
In the end, you know he will be a lot more involved than his three current picks, the smallest draft stock in the league, indicate he will be.
It’s usually pretty hard to predict what the Hawks will do in the first round – as we all know, they tend to overdraft players who struggle to contribute. But we can look at Schneider’s trends and the makeup of this draft and make an educated guess about what he might do April 30 and May 1. So here we go …
Continue reading What to expect from Seattle in this draft
With the return of backups Jordan Simmons and Cedric Ogbuehi, the Seahawks’ offensive line is now set — at least until the draft – but plenty of people are wondering what Russell Wilson thinks about the fact that his calls for better protection netted just one new blocker.
Here’s a good reminder for those folks (and Wilson): Seattle’s first and biggest effort at improving protection was made in January with the hires of OC Shane Waldron and running game coordinator Andy Dickerson from the Rams.
Continue reading Just one new blocker, but protection starts with Waldron
Once upon a time, the Seahawks had the NFL’s top-paid players (or close to it) at three defensive positions, along with the No. 2-paid quarterback.
In 2019, they made Russell Wilson and Bobby Wagner the league’s top-paid QB and middle linebacker — but they have not been interested in paying anyone else in that stratosphere since 2017, when they gave Kam Chancellor another top-three deal.
They didn’t want to pay Earl Thomas and Frank Clark in 2019, and they don’t want to pay Jadeveon Clowney this year.
Basically, they don’t want to pay elite pass rushers. So they used Thomas and Clark to draft a few. And, like it or not, they are counting on those swaps to work out.
Continue reading Cheap Hawks swapped Thomas & Clark for 3 pass rushers and a guard
After the 2019 season ended, Pete Carroll said he wanted to keep his offensive line together.
“It is important,’’ Carroll said. “I hope we can keep our guys connected. I don’t want to see a big change there.’’
Well, that plan obviously changed: The Seahawks will have three, perhaps four, new starters in 2020. Only three other teams in the NFL apparently will undergo that much change up front. It’s a tough year to do that, too — with a pandemic impacting preparation time.
(UPDATE: Justin Britt and D.J. Fluker were cut after this was posted.)
In the wake of the draft, and with most of us thinking Seattle still should sign a star pass rusher, there’s a lot of fan chatter about vets who might/should be cut.
Justin Britt makes sense, as we have said, because B.J. Finney looks like the new center. But some fans want Seattle to ditch K.J. Wright, Bradley McDougald, D.J. Fluker and Jacob Hollister.
Yeah, by all means, let’s cut some of the most dependable veterans and try to contend for a Super Bowl with rookies instead. Brilliant strategy!
Continue reading Rookies are not ousting Wright, other key vets
The Seahawks hardly did a thing we expected them to in the draft.
They had three major needs – edge rusher, defensive tackle and offensive tackle – and we also expected them to move down from the first round to end up with five Day 2 picks in a draft that was especially loaded in the second round.
But, they didn’t accomplish most of those things. In fact, it’s the first time since 2015 that they did not address two of their top three needs in a draft.
