My Thoughts Regarding the Turnover of the Seahawks Offense

In what has been a busy offseason for Seahawks GM John Schneider, the Seahawks have already started completely revamping their offense.  Gone are Tyler Lockett, Geno Smith, and DK Metcalf.  In is Sam Darnold, and likely a receiver from the draft or free agency (ended up being Cooper Kupp!).  I'm going to make some bullet point overriding thoughts I have about these moves for each player, go into further detail, and then talk about the outlook for the Seahawks this coming season, despite the rest of free agency and the draft needing to happen.

• We knew Tyler Lockett was going to be cut
  Unfortunately, the NFL is a business, and Lockett was making too much for the production he was providing.  It was inevitable.  There is still a small chance they bring him back on a team-friendly deal, especially since Tyler's real estate business is centered here.  His veteran presence will be missed, but perhaps the Seahawks will bring a cheaper veteran in to training camp.
  
  
• Geno's gone because he overvalued himself
  Sounds like the two sides were far apart in negotiations.  Sure, you can try to find a middle, but it seemed like neither side wanted to compromise that much.  Geno's TD/Int ratio was only 1.4 last season.  That's below league average for a starting quarterback these days.  I wonder if there was any chance of waiting until after next season was over.  But, the rumor is because they couldn't reach a deal, Geno wanted a deal with someone else, then.  I think we had seen Geno's ceiling, which was a winning QB, but not a QB with success in the playoffs.  Might as well try something new.
  
  
• DK Metcalf is a great talent, but has his flaws
  Fortunately for the Steelers and Mike Tomlin, DK's problems are primarily mental.  He sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him.  DK also doesn't have great ball security and occasionally will drop a pass.  That stuff can be fixed.  The Steelers will either make or break the rest of DK's career.  I wish we could've gotten a first for him, but a 2nd will have to do.  Hopefully, we can get a good player from it--more of a Bobby Wagner than a Marquise Blair (Both 2nd round picks by the Hawks).  I'll miss DK's freakish athleticism, but I won't miss his immature attitude.
  
  
• Sam Darnold, the next Matt Flynn?
  Interesting how history sometimes repeats itself.  The Seahawks signed Matt Flynn in 2012 after he had one good game after being mostly a backup.  The Seahawks signed Sam Darnold after he had one good season after being a backup for the last few years.  Perhaps we will take a QB in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft who may be our next Russell Wilson.  I'll certainly be watching out for that.  But Darnold likely is the starter at first, regardless of who we take in April's draft.  But we also thought that about Flynn after we signed him.  I think Darnold will do okay, but the key will be protecting him and establishing the run.  So our next focus has to be offensive line.  

Next season will certainly be interesting.  I, for one, am optimistic.  I just really hope that we get at least two starter-quality interior linemen.  I'm not worried about the defense, which I believe will be even better in 2025.  The offensive side of the ball will largely determine the team's success in 2025.  Funny, no one thought the Vikings would win 14 games under Sam Darnold, yet they did.  I know most in the rest of the country will largely be counting the Hawks out in 2025, but that's fine with me.  They could use a chip on their shoulder.  But first, the draft in April will be huge now that we have a couple extra picks.  I don't think I'll be doing a post before the draft, but I'll do one after, possibly grading the picks and talking about how they might fit into the team.  

What the Seahawks should do at the QB Position

The Seahawks are coming to a crossroads regarding their starting quarterback, Geno Smith.  He's about to enter the final year of his contract, and the team is going to have to make a tough decision regarding his future.  They have to, first and foremost, look out for the team's best interests.  I'm going to go over the possible scenarios and rank them from 1 to 5, with 1 being the best and 5 being the worst.

1. The Seahawks don't extend Geno, but find a different option to learn under him and possibly take over for him.  
This is what I hope the Hawks will do.  First off, as the team's starting quarterback and leader, he shouldn't hold out if they decide not to extend him.  Even if he decides to hold out, the Hawks should try to find someone out there who can take over, worst-case scenario.  They have Sam Howell, but they need to bring someone else in to compete with Howell, at least for the backup spot.  It could be through the draft, or it could be a QB in free agency like Justin Fields or Daniel Jones.  Clearly, it would depend on who they hire to be the new offensive coordinator, and who that OC likes.

2. The Hawks pull a Pittsburgh Steelers and bring in two new QB's
Last offseason, the Steelers jettisoned both Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph and got Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.  Imagine if the Hawks did something like that.  Who knows who the two QBs would be, but it would certainly inspire hope that the Hawks are trying to find the next franchise QB. 

3. The Seahawks trade Geno Smith and have a QB competition with Howell and another QB brought in.
We have likely seen Geno's ceiling.  He's not getting any younger, and his TD/INT ratio took a huge hit in 2024.  Perhaps Macdonald and the new OC will want to start with someone new and build them up.  Sure, there's Sam Howell, but he would need some competition for the starting job after trading Geno.  It could be another trade like the Hawks did with Russell Wilson, where they got Drew Lock in return, among other players and picks.  Possible teams the Hawks could look to trade Geno to: Raiders, Browns, Titans, or Giants.

4. The Seahawks stay with the same two QB's, possibly extending Geno
This wouldn't inspire much confidence in wanting to improve at the QB position.  Could Geno win with a Super Bowl roster like the Hawks had in 2013-2014?  Sure.  But so could a lot of QBs.  Also, extending him ties up our cap space a lot to our QB position.  When you do that, unless you have a worldly talent like Mahomes, Allen, or Jackson, you're not winning too much.  I mostly want some kind of change.  But not any kind of change, as you'll see below.

5. The Hawks draft a QB at #18, regardless of who is currently on the roster
After Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward, there's a bit of a drop-off, so I'd be surprised if the #18 pick was a QB, especially if Geno is still here.  The next best options are Quinn Ewers and Jalen Milroe.  The Seahawks haven't taken a QB in the first round since 1993 with Rick Mirer.  I don't think that will change after the 2025 draft.  

It'll be interesting to see what they do this off-season.  I'll try to update here once it seems settled.  My dad, for one, is tired of Geno Smith as the Seahawks quarterback.  I can't say I blame him too much.  Sure, Geno can help the Hawks to winning seasons, but it does not appear he will be able to lead them to a Super Bowl.  It's time to start rebuilding at the position so the Hawks can hopefully, someday, have another star QB.

Wow, color me surprised.  They went with option #2 (bolded, above).  I definitely am on board with the decisions made.  Sam Darnold had a much better 2024 than Geno and is younger.  We also brought back Drew Lock, who not only is familiar with the Hawks, but he's familiar with Sam Darnold.  Who knew?  And not only that, but we drafted an electric fast-moving QB in Jalen Milroe.  I'm excited to see him in the pre-season, for sure.  I am not upset at all about moving on from Geno--we saw his ceiling.  Teams had started to adjust to him, and I guarantee he will not have as good of a season with the Raiders as he did in 2022 with us.  He's a bridge QB for the Raiders at best, just like he was with us.