Seahawks have drafted just 2 quarterbacks in 12 years under Carroll, Schneider. Well...
Russell Wilson and...Alex McGough?
That’s it.
That’s all the quarterbacks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have drafted in a dozen years. Could it change heading into the first round of the 2022 NFL draft Thursday evening?
Seattle famously took Wilson in the third round in 2012 out of Wisconsin. It was months after the former minor-league baseball middle infielder had led the Badgers to the Rose Bowl in his only, transfer season at Wisconsin. It was a month after the Seahawks had signed former Green Bay Packers quarterback Matt Flynn to a $26 million, three-year contract to be Seattle’s new passer for 2012.
Wilson supposedly was too short to succeed in the NFL. Within months of Carroll and Schneider drafting him, by the third game of his rookie preseason, Wilson beat out Flynn for the Seahawks’ job. He became the winningest quarterback in NFL history over the first 10 years of a career. He became Seattle’s only QB to win a Super Bowl, at the end of his second season.
He held the job for 10 years, until Seattle traded him to Denver last month.
That’s why McGough is the only other quarterback Carroll and Schneider drafted from 2010 into Thursday. They Seahawks haven’t needed one.
McGough, from Florida International, went to Seattle in the seventh round in 2018. That was after Carroll and Schneider got spooked by watching former undrafted free agent Trevone Boykin having to play in 2016 when the previously indestructible Wilson injured his ankle and then his knee in the first weeks of that season.
McGough lasted one season on the Seahawks’ practice squad, as a rookie in 2018. He spent the 2019 and ‘20 seasons on the practice squads of Jacksonville and Houston. Seattle re-signed him for the 2021 preseason then released him in late August. Now 26, he is playing for the Birmingham Stallions in the recently reborn United States Football League.
Schneider was a Green Bay scout then Packers personnel executive before becoming Seattle’s GM in 2010. He’s said he has erred not drafting more than two quarterbacks in 12 years.
“One thing we haven’t done, that my mentor did all the time in Green Bay...the way the draft falls, is we haven’t picked quarterbacks,” Schneider said.
He mentioned even though the Packers had Hall of Famer Brett Favre, Green Bay GM Ted Thompson drafted Mark Brunell, Ty Detmer and Aaron Brooks.
“We had a number of guys that became assets. And I don’t know why, just for some reason since we’ve been here it hasn’t really fallen that way,” Schneider said. “When we took Russ we had signed Matt Flynn, T-Jack (Tarvaris Jackson) was here, remember he had tore his pec, he was the locker room guy. Then we brought Matt in, so why would you draft a quarterback? Russ was still there, we loved him — bang.”
Which brings the Seahawks to this year’s draft that started with round one Thursday and continues with rounds two and three Friday. Seattle entered the draft with three of the first 41 selections and four in the first 72. That includes the 40th- and 41st-overall picks in round two, and number 72 in the third round.
The national consensus entering this draft was that because they just traded Wilson, the Seahawks must draft a quarterback.
Yet what they’ve done since trading Wilson — on top of that draft history with QBs — suggested they don’t have to and may not.
Carroll, in particular, and Schneider have been talking up their faith and excitement in Drew Lock. He was one of three players (with tight end Noah Fant and defensive tackle Shelby Harris) the Seahawks got with five additional choices in the 2022 and ‘23 drafts from the Broncos for trading Wilson.
Carroll and Schneider loved Lock when he was coming out of the University of Missouri for the draft in 2019. They loved his athleticism — he’s a former high school basketball player — and his ability to throw the deep pass. But the Seahawks had just signed Wilson to a then-NFL record $140 million contract extension two weeks before that draft.
Denver drafted Lock in the second round that year. He went 8-13 in parts of three seasons with the Broncos. The Seahawks feel he was a victim of the thumb injury that cost him all but the final five games of his rookie season, plus changes in offensive coordinators then the arrival of veteran Teddy Bridgewater to replace him in Denver.
“We’ll continue to explore options, but we have a ton of faith in Drew,” Schneider said. “We’re excited about it. We’re excited about a change of scenery for him. I know a couple of my buddies were trying to acquire him all last spring and into the fall.
“He is a guy that, in my opinion, the media has beat down a little bit. We are excited to get him into our culture with our coaching staff, and we will continue to look for guys that will compete with him.”
Carroll was asked last month if Seattle can win a championship with Lock as its quarterback.
“If he plays like he did early on I think we’ve got a shot,” Carroll said. “You go back to his first year when he was balling as a rookie, when he was 4-1 (for the Broncos), his third-down numbers were terrific. Taking care of the football really well.”
This month the Seahawks re-signed 31-year-old Geno Smith, Wilson’s backup for the team the last three seasons. Carroll has said Smith will get the chance to compete intensely with Lock this summer for the starting job replacing Wilson.
“He’s been here a number of years. He’s got great background with us, and he brings that real sense of what we’re all about,” Carroll said after re-signing Smith, the former New York Jets starter the first two years of his career. “He’s helping the younger quarterbacks as they’re transitioning to learning our stuff. He’s a great illustration for them, and what it takes.
“It feels good. He’s really excited about the opportunity and it’s going to be a real competition. ...
“The competition is on, and it isn’t different from when Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson went at it. Same kind of deal, to me.”
Thing is, Smith and Lock are each signed for just 2022. That means the Seahawks entered this draft with no one under contract at the sport’s most vital position for 2023 and beyond.
That makes it possible if not likely Seattle drafts a quarterback later rather than earlier in this draft. This draft is seen as light on QBs ready to start in the league this year: maybe Malik Willis of Liberty or the University of Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett, though each come with big questions.
The Seahawks drafting a quarterback Friday in rounds two or three, or on Saturday over rounds four through seven, would be a pick for development. For 2023 and beyond.
Asked about the 2022 NFL draft class of quarterbacks, Schneider said: “People aren’t highly rating it. But you never know where you’re going to acquire these guys all the way through.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2022 at 12:48 PM.
