John Schneider may have hinted at Seahawks' QB plans before Geno Smith trade

The timeline is coming together for how the Seattle Seahawks wound up trading Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders. Apparently the two sides were negotiating a new potential contract but were far apart on the particulars. Albert Breer has reported Smith's camp wanted $45 million a year, while the Seahawks preferred a deal closer to $35 million a year.

At an impasse, Geno Smith apparently requested a trade on Thursday, which kicked off the talks with Pete Carroll and the Raiders. Before the deal was struck, general manager John Schneider made his weekly appearance on Seattle Sports radio on Thursday evening. That's when he dropped a potential hint about the team's plans at quarterback, when he said they have their eye on a couple QBs who threw at the NFL Combine.

#Seahawks GM John Schneider says they have their eye on a couple of the quarterbacks who threw at the NFL Combine pic.twitter.com/rHavYeJKMC
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) March 7, 2025

Neither of the top two quarterbacks in this draft class - Miami's Cam Ward or Colorado's Shedeur Sanders - threw at the combine, and the Seahawks won't be in position to draft either one anyway, so we can reasonably cross them off the list.

After Ward and Sanders there's supposed to be a big gap to the next tier of quarterback prospects, headlined by Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss and Jalen Milroe from Alabama. Quinn Ewers from Texas and Dillon Gabriel from Oregon are also in the mix as potential Day 2 targets for teams looking to add depth at QB, or a potential future starter some day down the line.

Then again, you can't always take what Schneider says at face value, as his public comments about Geno Smith and Russell Wilson before trading them both make clear. It would go against this team's history to use a draft pick on a quarterback, as they clearly prefer established veterans over rookies. Knowing that, Sam Darnold should probably be considered the team's first, second and third targets at QB right now.

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