The Seattle Seahawks’ “punishment” for winning the Super Bowl—are you tired of us starting almost every article with this reminder in the opening paragraph, yet?—is picking 32nd in this Thursday’s NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. This year’s situation is a little more complex for Seattle, who have a league-low four selections, so even in a draft not considered to be a great in terms of depth, the Seahawks look like prime candidates to trade back to get more picks.
At Monday’s pre-draft press conference with
general manager John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald, Schneider shocked the world by saying exactly what was expected regarding the Seahawks’ interest in moving pick 32.
“It’s the pick that everybody wants,” Schneider said. “You’re blessed enough to win the Super Bowl, right? The fifth-year option right there. It’s no secret with us, guys. We have four picks, so we’ll be looking to move back. People are usually understanding that I think we tend to trend backwards, trade back. We traded up to get Tyler [Lockett] and [Michael Dickson], Nick [Emmanwori], yeah.”
The last time the Seahawks traded down in the first round on draft night was 2019, when their native 21st overall pick was dealt for No. 30, then No. 37, and eventually they took safety Marquise Blair at No. 47. They had the luxury of a second first-round pick due to the Frank Clark trade, but that No. 29 pick was spent on L.J. Collier. You have to go back to 2017 for the last time Schneider completely traded out of the first round, when they moved from No. 26 to No. 35, selecting Malik McDowell.
Incidentally, Schneider does not view this as a strong draft class, which did factor into giving up their fourth- and fifth-rounders for Rashid Shaheed.
“I think there’s a lack of depth in this draft,” Schneider said. “I thought our scouts did a great job in the fall of identifying that and that allowed us to be a little bit more willing to give up the fourth and the fifth-round draft pick. No matter what draft you’re in what year, it’s our responsibility to the organization to be able to find true Seahawks all the way through it.
“So that means if we did have that fourth, fifth, and we’re moving around and we acquire more draft picks, we’re still going to be focused on making those guys true Seahawks. When you say nailing it, no matter if you have the three and — was that ’21? Was that the year we had three picks? Or last year having a bunch of draft picks, it doesn’t matter. You still feel that same level of pressure to be able to bring the best people you can and for the organization and for the coaching staff.”
You can watch the full press conference in the video below.
