Huard reacts to Seahawks GM’s comments on drafting QB

Apr 15, 2024, 12:48 PM | Updated: 1:10 pm

Michael Penix Jr. of the Washington Huskies during the 2023 Apple Cup. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

(Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Seattle Sports

Seattle Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider slipped in an interesting nugget about the team’s view of drafting a quarterback last week during his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob.

Wyman highlights UW Huskies LB as Seattle Seahawks draft target

“We love Sam (Howell),” Schneider said of his team’s new backup QB who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Washington Commanders. “We love what we did being able to acquire Sam. And we talked about the age, he’s got the experience, but that doesn’t preclude us from what we do in the draft.”

The last part of that quote caught the attention of many, including former NFL quarterback Brock Huard.

“We say this about (Schneider) every time about this period in the calendar year, (that when) he says things that you better sit up and listen to him,” Huard said Monday on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk. “… Over the years when you look back in the rearview mirror, you’re like, ‘well, that’s what he said he was going to do, and that’s what they went and did.’

“… I think what I hear in that is that, ‘if a (Michael) Penix (Jr.), if a (Bo) Nix, if a somebody falls to such a place where they become a tremendous value for us, we better have done our homework and pull the trigger,'” Huard continued.

Schneider’s comments came after he and the Seahawks had recently hosted Nix of Oregon and Spencer Rattler of South Carolina as part of the team’s 30 pre-draft visits. Seattle has also been come up as a potential landing spot for Penix, the UW Huskies standout who spent the past two seasons lighting up defenses in new Seahawks offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb’s scheme.

The team already has two capable QBs with starting experience in Geno Smith and Howell, and it has other needs to fill while currently possessing just two of the top 100 picks in the upcoming draft. So, just how soon would Seattle jump on a quarterback in the draft?

Brock and Salk co-host Mike Salk asked Huard if he thinks the Seahawks would take Penix if he’s available when the team is on the clock for its first-round pick at No. 16 overall.

“I don’t think so,” Huard said, “because Geno is here, because Sam Howell is here, because those acquisitions have been made, that foundation has been laid. And at 16, I don’t think that’s the value proposition that it would be at 29, that it would be at 44.”

Salk provided his outlook on the situation.

“I think if you look at a player and you believe that they are worthy of being a top pick, you make it, whether it’s at 16 or at what 20, whatever,” Salk said. “If you think he’s a franchise quarterback, you don’t wait, you don’t worry about value. Either you think he’s a franchise quarterback or you don’t.”

Listen to the full conversation at this link of in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.