The Seattle Seahawks are not rebuilding. That has become crystal clear in the days following their roster shakeup, which began with the trades of Geno Smith and DK Metcalf.
Seattle Seahawks Offseason Tracker: Free agency, trades and more
This could have gone either way. With their starting quarterback gone and an offense that as of Monday contained legit starters at maybe four or five positions, a rebuild wouldn’t have been out of the question. They had added salary cap space and draft picks. They had a coach that had spent a year building credibility that could have helped get them through a lean year or two. There was no obvious elite franchise quarterback available.
It’s probably what I would have done.
In this alternate, hypothetical reality (in which I was in charge of the Seahawks!), I would have signed Daniel Jones to be the quarterback at something like the $14 million, one-year deal he took in Indy. He might have even taken less given a better opportunity to start and play here. I would have tried to structure it so that the team had a second-year option if he played well.
Jones would have been a likely downgrade from Geno Smith, but I’d be banking on one of two things happening. Either he becomes the next Sam Darnold, thrives in this system, and the team uses the savings to build up the rest of the roster. Or he struggles, the team loses, and then picks a quarterback in the top 10 of the NFL Draft next year.
The idea behind my plan would be to give the team multiple bites at solving the quarterback problem. It would be risky, but the goal would be to wind up with either quality quarterback play for small money or a chance at an elite franchise quarterback in the draft.
The Seahawks had a different plan. It might not have quite the same upside as mine, but it’s safer and probably smarter and easier to achieve in reality.
In trying to understand what the Seahawks have done in the past week, it has helped me to think of the two trades (and the Darnold signing) in a slightly different way.
The first trade could be viewed as Geno Smith straight up for Sam Darnold. This is, quite simply, a smart trade. The Seahawks get a similar-tiered quarterback who is seven years younger and will cost a smaller percentage of their cap than what Geno wanted to be paid.
The Seahawks may lose some accuracy and there is obvious risk in bringing in a quarterback who has only shown one year of success after lots of struggles. But that is balanced by the age, money, and locker room advantages that Darnold brings with him. I think most NFL executives and coaches would make that swap in a heartbeat.
The second trade would then work out to be DK Metcalf for a second and third-round pick (counting the pick from the Geno trade here). That would be a lot closer to the value we had hoped to see for the mercurial wide receiver and gives the team the chance to backfill the position while using at least one pick and the cash/cap savings to reallocate resources on your roster into more important positions.
Sign me up for that one too.
The Seahawks end up with the No. 6 free agent (Darnold, according to NFL Network’s Gregg Rosenthal) and save enough money to re-sign Nos. 27 (linebacker Ernest Jones) and 53 (defensive lineman Jarran Reed), sign No. 48 (pass rusher DeMarcus Lawrence), plus add receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Oh, and they still have resources left to be in the running for Cooper Kupp and are better situated to extend Charles Cross and other young players soon to outgrow their rookie contracts.
Is WA native Cooper Kupp now a fit as Seahawks WR?
Here’s what I like:
• They have a quarterback that seems to be liked by his teammates, doesn’t create much drama, and could continue to progress in his mid-career resurgence.
• They continued to invest in making the defense elite. Yes, you have a flaw to fix on the offensive line, but the quickest path to being great is to be elite somewhere and the defensive line is where they are already closest. Signing Lawrence gives them so much flexibility in the draft.
• By adding MVS (and hopefully someone like Kupp), they get wide receivers that fit their new scheme, won’t need a high volume of passes, and keep them from immediately needing to fill the position with a top draft pick. This is a weak draft if you need a top wideout – there is no reason to take a second receiver in the top 20 in three years.
• They create a roster that is more indicative of what coach Mike Macdonald wants and is relatively free of drama.
It is very possible the Seahawks could end up being a significantly better team in 2025 than they were last season. But for that to happen, we all know what is left to do:
The Seahawks need to address the interior of their offensive line. This isn’t a debate. I don’t think there is another side to this where you point at the existing players and hope that new coaches and technique fixes the problem. This needs both that and better talent.
Seattle has already watched the best free agents go elsewhere (Will Fries, Drew Dolman, Joe Thuney). The Seahawks need to upgrade either the center and/or guard position before the draft to avoid having to rely on rookies to step in and succeed immediately.
If they can do this – and I believe they still can – this will be the best free agent signing period the team has had since the Cliff Avril/Michael Bennett steal of 2013.
All that with five picks in the top 92? That is how you get better without rebuilding.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• Schlereth: New Seahawks QB Darnold’s resurgence didn’t start last year
• Instant reaction: What WR Valdes-Scantling brings to Seahawks
• Rost: Seattle Seahawks’ free agent strategy hasn’t been a strong suit
• Which version of Sam Darnold are the Seahawks getting?
• Bump & Stacy: Why Seattle Seahawks are in a ‘retool,’ not a rebuild
