Schneider: Seahawks looking to move back from 25th pick

By Liz Mathews

Seahawks general manager John Schneider may be looking to trade down in this year’s draft.

“Personally, I would like to move back,” said Schneider of the team’s 25th overall pick. “But it’s actually easier to go up then it is to go back. I think there are a number of teams that would like to go back right now. But, not having a third-round pick, I’m not excited about that.”

Schneider met with members of the media Monday at the VMAC to discuss the team’s draft preparations. The team scouts arrived Sunday night and the coaching staff is expected to report to the facility by the end of the week. To start, the staff will be evaluating the current roster, position by position, and will be looking for players who can fill certain needs and compete in specific roles.

“Where we are as a team, we still think that we are in the infancy of our development,” Schneider said. “No disrespect to the players that are here, but we still feel that we have a long way to go to be a consistent, championship caliber football team.”

Schneider said that he would like the roster to get younger after injuries and immediate needs last season necessitated the signings of several veterans.

“We want to be young, tough, smart, fast, and aggressive,” he said. “We want that to be our staple and get this roster where every year we go into the draft that is what we are doing – we are just adding to that group.”

Seahawks GM John Schneider said Matt Hasselbeck’s uncertain future in Seattle won’t affect the team’s draft plans at quarterback. “We will be looking for a quarterback every single year,” he said. (AP)

But with free agency at a stand still, Schneider and staff with be heading into this year’s draft with a number of players unsigned. Most notably, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. When asked directly whether or not this changes things, Schneider’s answer was “no.”

“We will be looking for a quarterback every single year,” Schneider said. “I have been blessed to be around some very talented people and it’s just a philosophy that you can never have enough of those guys.”

“There is such a wide variety,” Schneider said of this year’s quarterback class. “I don’t want to get into specifics on guys but I think everyone knows what I am taking about. You have incredibly tough guys, you have big time competitors, you have really good movers, you have not-so-good movers. You have guys that are extremely accurate, you have guys that have average accuracy. Every one of these guys has compensating factors that are just more unique than guys of recent years.”

As for other positions of need, Schneider said that he would like to come out of the draft with at least one offensive lineman and one defensive lineman. “Now, whether or not our board falls that way,” he said, “I don’t know. But we are not going to reach for guys.”

Schneider said that while character is a consideration in evaluating a prospect, off the field issues don’t necessarily rule out a player as long as his issues are manageable and “worth managing.”

“We are doing the same thing we did last year,” Schneider said in reference to the lack of free agency or draft-day trades. “I think this year’s draft is going to be smoother because our ability to have one scouting system, one grading scale. Based on the fact that our coaches are more involved, we are going to have more buy-in from the coaches.

“You don’t want to be drafting players that your coaches are not going to be excited about teaching.”