What are the Seattle Seahawks doing?
You’ve probably been seeking an answer to that question since learning they agreed to send quarterback Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a third-round pick, according to league sources. The trade, which will be finalized next week, will save Seattle $31 million in cap space, giving the team more than $60 million to work with, days away from free agency.
Seattle will receive the lesser of Las Vegas’ two 2025 third-round picks. At a time when teams are leaving no stone unturned in their search for competence at quarterback, the Seahawks shipped their established starter away for a late Day 2 pick.
GO DEEPER
Seahawks trade Geno Smith to Raiders, expected to pursue Darnold: Sources
What’s going on in Seattle?
You’ve also probably been seeking an answer to that question since learning the team is entertaining offers for receiver DK Metcalf, who earlier this week requested to be traded. The Seahawks want a haul in return for him, and if they don’t get it, they’re prepared to keep him around in 2025. But the hope is that a deal, preferably before the NFL Draft, winds up being advantageous for all parties involved.
The Seahawks proudly boasted the fact that Mike Macdonald just completed a 10-7 season, making him the winningest first-year coach in franchise history. Yes, they were upset at missing the playoffs for the second consecutive season but were overall pleased with the foundation laid in Year 1. Ryan Grubb got the ax after one season, but replacing him with Klint Kubiak, who brought in a slew of familiar faces to help build Seattle’s offensive identity, spoke to the team’s urgent desire to become a contender again.
So, why ship out Pro Bowl players like Amazon packages?
Let’s start with the quarterback, since that’s most pertinent.
Smith has long viewed himself as a top-tier quarterback. His two head coaches in Seattle mostly agreed with that assessment. Drew Lock was the focus in the immediate aftermath of the Russell Wilson trade, but Pete Carroll had faith all along that Smith could be the guy — and he was right.
Macdonald inherited Smith and quickly started to sound like his predecessor, becoming a huge Smith advocate.
General manager John Schneider was seldom as effusive with his praise. After trading Wilson in 2022, Schneider didn’t re-sign Smith — who was a free agent and could have joined any team — until a few weeks before the 2022 draft. After Smith broke out in 2022, the GM signed him to what amounted to a creatively crafted prove-it deal. The team did not engage in extension talks last offseason, despite Smith’s interest in doing so.
It always felt as if the front office’s view of Smith was noticeably different than that of the coaching staff.
This is why I asked Smith in Week 18 if he was confident that the Seahawks saw him the way he saw himself — as a “top tier” quarterback. Smith answered yes. His confidence didn’t seem warranted then, and that’s only been confirmed two months later.
GO DEEPER
Geno Smith trade grades: Raiders secure stability at QB; Seahawks plot new course
It’s no surprise the front office balked at paying Smith what he believes he’s worth — even though Carroll and the Raiders appear willing to do so — nor that the divide led to Friday’s trade.
Geno Smith is expected to get a new deal with Las Vegas. He’s been looking to make between $40-$45 million a year.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 8, 2025
Seattle is now targeting impending free-agent quarterback Sam Darnold, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. Darnold is the best veteran quarterback available, so a plan to pivot to the Pro Bowl passer would make sense in that he’s a better fit than Justin Fields, Aaron Rodgers (and all that comes with signing him) or Daniel Jones.
Darnold turns 28 this summer and is coming off the best year of his career in his only season with the Minnesota Vikings. He threw for 4,319 yards with 35 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. He ranked 16th in dropback EPA (five spots ahead of Smith), fifth in touchdown percentage and sixth in yards per attempt, according to TruMedia, while leading five game-winning drives (including one in Seattle).
But Darnold was either sacked or threw an interception on 9.7 percent of his dropbacks, which was the 10th-highest rate in the league. He also had two of his worst games of the season in Week 18 and the wild-card round of the playoffs, when the stakes were highest.
Between Minnesota’s play caller, offensive line, skill players and defense, Darnold was in one of the league’s most quarterback-friendly situations last season. And that’s relevant regardless of whether Seattle ends up with him, Sam Howell, a different veteran or a rookie behind center in 2025. The dominant Wilson-led teams of the 2010s were so tough to beat in large part because of how well the quarterback was supported.
The pressure is on Schneider and Macdonald to recapture that magic — immediately. This was true before the Smith trade, but it’s become even more urgent now that the team has moved on from a proven commodity without a path to an obvious upgrade (Smith, for my money, is better than Darnold).
Supporting the quarterback is also paramount, regardless of whether Metcalf is on the roster. Metcalf’s trade request came Wednesday, and though a $30 million annual salary is on his wishlist, so is the opportunity to win. Metcalf reached the divisional round of the playoffs as a rookie. Seattle won the NFC West in his second season. The next year, Wilson’s finger injury torpedoed the season, but Seattle went back to the wild-card round with Smith in 2022. Now, it appears Metcalf no longer sees the Seahawks, after consecutive seasons missing the playoffs, as capable of a quick turnaround.
After the Smith trade, he’s probably not alone.
But here’s what the Seahawks are not doing: rebuilding.
The goal in 2025 is, as it has always been, to contend. That won’t change even if Metcalf is traded. It didn’t change when Marshawn Lynch was no longer crotch-grabbing in the end zone, nor when the Legion of Boom no longer headlined their star-studded defense, nor when a potential Hall of Fame quarterback was sent to Denver. As much as Seattle appreciated having Smith and Metcalf, parting with one or both players will not change the mission.
The question is, will Schneider and Macdonald complete that mission?
On Friday, I published a free-agent roadmap for Seattle, complete with contract proposals for ideal fits, including two on the offensive line. The bulk of the Seahawks’ savings from the Smith trade will likely be allocated to a new quarterback, but they still have money to improve the team. Now more than ever, the Seahawks must deviate from standard operating procedure, allocate more funds to the front line and fix the position group that has been the team’s Achilles’ heel for the last decade.
No more short-term solutions for a position group that directly correlates with sustained success. Putting Band-Aids over bullet wounds doesn’t stop the bleeding.
It’s fair to be skeptical of the current regime’s ability to do this while likely downgrading at quarterback (and, perhaps, receiver). Seattle has been drafting and signing offensive linemen, hiring and firing coordinators and position coaches and switching schemes for years, only to enter December without an established identity. Even if Macdonald has solved the defensive side of the ball — and I believe he has — it’s hard to fault any fan who simply wants the team to hit a hard reset and stop trying to talk itself into contention.
That is why this just became a monumental offseason for Schneider and Macdonald — mostly for the former, considering he’s going on Year 16 with the organization. There aren’t many reasonable explanations remaining if the Seahawks once again fall well short of their stated goals.
GO DEEPER
How culpable is John Schneider after another Seahawks disappointment?
Maybe you could blame a rough transition to a post-LOB world, all the Wilson drama, cycling through offensive and defensive coordinators, Carroll’s squads getting stagnant and the growing pains that come with employing a young, first-year head coach in 2024. But another short-of-expectations season in 2025 would make for a tough sell to a fan base that is thirsty to escape purgatory and just watched Seattle go 3-6 at home as visiting fans occasionally overtook parts of the lower bowl.
So, what are the Seattle Seahawks doing? What they’ve always done: retooling without fully resetting. And, in theory, they’re building a championship-caliber football team, which Schneider says every year is the plan. But that plan hasn’t actually come to fruition in over a decade.
The Seahawks must do everything in their power to make it happen in 2025. If they fail, how long before owner Jody Allen starts asking the same question fans are asking?
(Photos of John Schneider, left, and Geno Smith: Stacy Revere, Steph Chambers / Getty Images)