Huard: Carroll, Seahawks playing ‘patient card’ at QB isn’t too surprising

Baker Mayfield, a quarterback who many speculated would wind up with the Seahawks this offseason, is indeed on the move, but not to Seattle.

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The 2018 No. 1 pick was traded to the Carolina Panthers from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for a fifth-round pick in next year’s draft. The Browns are also paying some of Mayfield’s 2022 salary, and the former Heisman winner agreed to a pay cut in order to make the deal happen.

So Mayfield won’t be joining a Seahawks quarterback room that currently has Geno Smith, Drew Lock and Jacob Eason in it, with Smith and Lock the heavy favorites to start come Week 1.

With Mayfield off the market, that led Mike Salk of Seattle Sports 710 AM’s Mike Salk Show to pose a question to former NFL quarterback Brock Huard regarding the Seahawks and head coach Pete Carroll.

“Brock, what do you think Pete knows that we don’t know about the quarterback situation?” Salk asked Huard Friday morning.

For Huard, he thinks that it’s important to look back on Carroll’s first two years in Seattle.

“I think he knows team build. I think it’s the same reason, Mike, that he was patient the first time around,” Huard said. “I’ve thought about this and I’m glad you asked that … I think he looks back at the first time he did this, and he was patient.”

Carroll joined the Seahawks in 2010 and had a veteran quarterback in Matt Hasselbeck on the final year of his contract and nearing the end of his career. Hasselbeck started that year and in 2011, former Minnesota Vikings starter Tavaris Jackson was signed to a relatively cheap deal and was QB1 for the Seahawks that season. Additionally, the Seahawks didn’t spend a pick on a quarterback during Carroll’s first two drafts with Seattle.

“He didn’t jump at Andy Dalton or Colin Kaepernick in the draft in the second round even though I think (general manager) John Schneider really wanted to draft Andy Dalton,” Huard said. “And Pete at that point was, from all of our understanding, the one that said, ‘No, we’ll kind of ride here and this locker room loves T-Jack and we’re gonna ride with him. Is he the most talented? No. Is he a franchise quarterback? No. But does he bring just some of the stuff that I want selflessly from that QB position?’ And that was a definitive yes.”

While Huard firmly believes Hasselbeck was “much better” than Smith currently is, he sees some slight similarities. He also sees that with Lock and Hasselbeck’s 2010 backup.

“Matt Hasselbeck took a team to a Super Bowl and was a Pro Bowler, so by no means am I comparing Geno to Matt. But in a similar vein, the guy’s a pro. At this stage of the game, he’s a pro,” Huard said. “And we’re gonna see what Drew Lock can do. And is Drew Lock better than Charlie Whitehurst? I think he is. But if Pete went with those two in the first iteration, we probably shouldn’t be terribly surprised he’s playing the patient card a little bit more than we expected.”

Listen to the full second hour of Friday’s Mike Salk Show at this link or in the player below.

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