Did Seahawks put their future at risk in trade with Texans? ESPN’s Adam Schefter doesn’t think so

Some critics might be worried the Seahawks gave up too much in their deal with the Texans to land left tackle Duane Brown, but Adam Schefter isn’t one of them.

The ESPN NFL insider joined Danny, Dave and Moore on 710 ESPN Seattle to talk about the mid-season trade.

Duane Brown on coming to Seattle: ‘I couldn’t ask for anything better’

“I think it was something that the Seattle organization wanted, the players wanted. They expressed that to Duane Brown on Sunday when he played there as a member of the Texans, that they were working to get it done,” Schefter said. “And it was really a question of Seattle stepping up, and finally the Seahawks did that.”

The Seahawks acquired the three-time Pro Bowl lineman in a deal first agreed upon just 24 hours before the league deadline. As part of the initial trade, Seattle was to send cornerback Jeremy Lane, a 2019 second-round pick and a 2018 fifth-round pick to Houston, in exchange for Brown. After Jeremy Lane failed his physical with the Texans, the trade was amended: Seattle bumped the 2018 fifth-round pick they offered to a third-round pick instead, and received a fifth rounder back in return. (Lane also found himself back in Seattle. More on that here.)

Worried about the picks Seattle gave up? Don’t be. If their confidence in their scouts is any indication, the Seahawks haven’t mortgaged their future to gamble on a Super Bowl run.

“(Seahawks general manager) John Schneider, that front office, they’re just very aggressive,” Schefter said. “That’s what they do. You don’t like to part with draft picks, but this team has done a great job of coming up with late-round draft picks (and) undrafted free agents.”

Several of the Seahawks’ core veterans were selected in the later rounds or went undrafted. Richard Sherman and K.J. Wright were drafted in the fifth and fourth rounds, respectively, and Doug Baldwin, DeShawn Shead, and Jermaine Kearse (now with the Jets) were all undrafted. Seattle has also made huge acquisitions in free agency, with Cliff Avril and Michael Bennett being arguably the two best free agent signings in franchise history.

“While you want to have those second- and third-round picks, and while they are very valuable, I think that organization believes that it can do enough scouting and enough good work that it’ll find some late-round values, some undrafted free agents, some players where other teams might not find them, and it can overcome the loss of those high picks,” Schefter said.

Further still, Schefter doesn’t believe the Brown signing will cost the Seahawks players or wins down the road when it comes to re-signing free agents.

“Every team’s got to make choices like that. If you bring in a $9 million salary, you’re going to have to lose $9 million worth of players. That’s sort of the way it goes, right? But those things sometimes are easily overcome. It’s really not a cap situation so much as it’s a cash situation, and that’s not an issue for Seattle, you can figure these things out and make it work. Let’s just say there’s a player you want to keep that’s supposed to make $5 million in the last year of a deal, you can always extend him out, lower the cap number, as long as you’re paying him… it’s not as much of a problem as you think it is. So yeah, they got Duane, (and) are they going to have to create room? Sure. They’re not going to lose someone that they want to keep over this deal. I can promise you that.”

Schefter’s entire interview with Danny, Dave and Moore is embedded above.

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