Seahawks GM Schneider: Why Seattle hits on late-round picks

Apr 25, 2024, 4:25 PM | Updated: 4:33 pm

Seattle Sports

The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off at 5 p.m. Thursday, and there’s been no shortage of speculation about what the Seattle Seahawks will do in the first round.

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The Seahawks hold the No. 16 overall pick and are a prime candidate to trade back in an effort to gain more picks in the early rounds. Seattle holds just two picks in the top 100 and has no second-round picks. If the Seahawks decide to make their selection at No. 16, they’ll be hoping to hit on draft picks in the later rounds, which is something they’ve done frequently under president of football operations and general manager John Schneider.

Schneider discussed his team’s success in the late rounds when he joined Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob on Thursday just hours before the draft for his weekly show.

“I tell the guys all the time that the first round is Thursday night, it’s like this big entertainment thing and it’s awesome,” Schneider said. “… Saturday (when rounds four through seven take place), that’s when you make your hay. That’s like the blood and guts of it. Finishing the draft, adjusting the board for rookie free agency, that’s like a whole other draft in itself.”

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The list of players Schneider and the Seahawks have hit on in the late rounds since he took over 14 years ago is lengthy. It started in 2010 when the team selected safety Kam Chancellor in the fifth round. The following year Seattle landed linebacker K.J. Wright and cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Byron Maxwell in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds, respectively. More recently, Seattle selected running back Chris Carson during the seventh round in 2017 and cornerback Riq Woolen in the fifth round of 2022.

Schneider largely credited that success to scouts and coaches coming together on prospects.

“I think it’s the guys, the scouts, the studying and then the buy-in from the coaches in the development (of those players),” Schneider said. “… If everybody buys in, if the area scout has conviction and has been through the process with the individual and we all vet it together … and if you have the convictions of the coaches at a certain spot, everybody is just kind of all-in and everyone wants to take care of that player and have him develop.”

He also said there’s more unpredictability in the later rounds, which means “you’ve really got to think on your feet because there’s too many scenarios to go through.”

As for whether or not the Seahawks have plans of moving back to take pressure off hitting on those late-round picks this year, Schneider didn’t give any hints, but he did say he’d been taking calls throughout the day.

Who is calling #Seahawks GM John Schneider? Tune into the final edition of the John Schneider Show before the start of the #NFLDraft at 4pm today and hear what he is thinking about before the start of round one. pic.twitter.com/JJCGSn5niB

— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) April 25, 2024

“You don’t really know necessarily how serious people are a week or two weeks out,” Schneider said. “When you’re this much closer to today, you’re like, ‘ok they’re serious about moving, or they’re not.’ And you’re trying to find those safe landing zones if things go a certain way.”

Listen to the full conversation with Seattle Seahawks president of football operations/general manager John Schneider at this link or in the video or audio players near the top of this story. The John Schneider Show airs Thursdays on Seattle Sports during NFL Draft season.