Timing of Jody Allen extending GM Schneider amid Seahawks ownership situation, explained
Don’t read anything into the timing of John Schneider getting a contract extension to continue running the team through decade’s end, related to how long Jody Allen is going to own the Seahawks.
That’s according to...John Schneider.
Seattle’s general manager since 2010 will remain under contract to be that and its president of football operations through 2030. Allen, who was at practice for a rare time talking to her GM Monday, gave Schneider a four-year contract extension Wednesday.
Schneider, 54, had been under contract through 2027 before this new deal.
When the Seahawks announced the extension Wednesday, there was immediate speculation as to what it means about how much longer Allen will own the Seahawks. Her brother, late Seahawks owner Paul Allen, wrote into his will before he died in October 2018 the NFL team and his NBA Portland Trail Blazers are to be sold. The proceeds from the teams’ sales are to be donated to charities.
It’s not a matter of if the Paul G. Allen Trust will sell the Seahawks, only when.
In Portland, the Blazers are for sale, as of this summer. There remain no indications the Seahawks are also for sale.
Estate attorneys are taking many years going through each of Paul Allen’s assets individually to assess its value to sell. A spokesman for Vulcan Inc. told The News Tribune in the summer of 2023 Allen’s operations company expects the Seahawks to be sold within 10 to 20 years of his death.
The News Tribune asked Schneider Wednesday: Does giving him an extension now through 2030 mean Jody Allen and the Allen estate will not sell the Seahawks until at least then?
Or does it mean the opposite? Does it mean that Jody Allen sought to take care of Schneider for his 16 years of the most sustained excellence, the first 15 with Pete Carroll ultimately in charge -- and only Super Bowl championship in franchise history by getting Schneider’s new deal done before the team is sold sooner than later?
“I have no idea,” Schneider said.
“That’s not my place (to ask or know).
“She has full confidence in what Mike and I are doing, and, like I said, everybody in the building. She was out here the other day, and was impressed with the crispness of everything that was going on and the enthusiasm and just everything that we have felt.
“So I think...yeah, best way to answer is that I know that she has very strong faith in what we’re doing.”
Another point, outside of the issue of the franchise’s eventual sale: Why would Allen extend Schneider now, the summer before the second season for Mike Macdonald — Schneider’s first coaching hire? Before the first season with a new offense, an entirely new offensive coaching staff Schneider hired with Macdonald’s input? Before the first season after the GM traded quarterback Geno Smith and top wide receiver DK Metcalf three day apart in March?
Why would Allen give her GM an extension before she sees how Seattle fares in first season with a new franchise quarterback, Sam Darnold? Schneider gave him a three-year, $100.5 million contract to this spring.
Wouldn’t Allen want to see the results of all this overhaul this season, to see if Schneider’s changes get the Seahawks back to the playoffs for the second time in four years?
Schneider said his team owner and he had to talk about his contract this spring. The GM said he had a predetermined “trigger” of this spring built into in his contract.
A league source told The News Tribune that “trigger” required a mandatory revisit in 2025 of his six-year contract. Schneider and his agent had that trigger written into the GM’s last extension, which he signed in 2011. That previous deal ran through 2027. It was believed to pay Schneider $4.5 million per year.
The exact trigger date written into the previous contract was after the conclusion of the 2025 NFL draft, in early May.
“I had a trigger in my contract, after the draft,” Schneider said. “And at that point we, we started talking. And we just kept it going.
“And look, you know, to be drafting here 16 times. I mean, this is where (his wife) Traci and I want to be. We just kept working with it.
“We thank God that it worked out.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2025 at 4:22 PM.
