Rost: Seahawks GM’s bold approach now needs to be applied in new way

Ask me what I’d love to see in an NFL general manager, and I’ll tell you they should be a football genius, of course! But the truth is everyone at that level knows more about football than most people ever will. At least when it comes to player value.

Seattle Seahawks Draft: Could national champion be future QB?

There are infamous cases of people getting it very, very wrong. Giants GM Joe Schoen let one of the league’s most talented running backs, Saquon Barkley, walk in free agency because he’d already made the mistake of investing in quarterback Daniel Jones (also no longer with the team) and questioned the value of a 27-year-old star. Flash forward six months, Barkley finished the season 101 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single season rushing record and his Eagles are playing in the Super Bowl. The discussion of whether or not to keep Barkley, captured on camera for HBO’s Hard Knocks, makes for a cringeworthy watch now.

Another massive misstep? Cleveland’s trade for Deshaun Watson in the 2022 offseason. Watson was already in the midst of a series of sexual assault lawsuits — none of his controversy was news to the Browns — and he’d already been out the entirety of the 2021 season. But the Browns took a gamble on the three-time Pro Bowler, sending three first-round selections to the Texans and giving Watson a guaranteed $230 million contract. He hasn’t played more than seven games in a season nor thrown for over 1,200 yards since, and it’s widely regarded as one of the worst trades in NFL history.

Even people who are qualified for the job can make massive mistakes. Make enough and it’ll cost you your job. And if you were to ask any GM to talk about his worst missteps or highlight his biggest weakness, he’ll tell you.

In a very roundabout way, what I’m saying is that Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider knows he hasn’t drafted a great offensive line. This isn’t news to him (nor is it news to any Seahawks fan). He knows the 2015 trade for tight end Jimmy Graham didn’t work out. He knows the one for safety Jamal Adams in 2020 didn’t, either. He knows it would’ve been a better move to draft All-Pro center Creed Humphrey over wide receiver Dee Eskridge in 2021, and I’m sure he’d love another shot at several other failed selections. He’d maybe even want another shot at his last two free agent classes, of which 2024 was the worst.

The challenge for Schneider isn’t recognizing the mistakes. It’s fixing them.

And that’s what good GMs do. Yes, they make the right move the first time. And in his defense, Schneider’s made a few great ones in his 15 years as Seattle’s GM.

He’s excelled at midseason trades. Go all the way back to October 2010 to find him sending a pair of Day 3 draft picks to the Bills for Marshawn Lynch. In the years since, there was the trade for All-Pro left tackle Duane Brown, safety Quandre Diggs, defensive tackle Leonard Williams and linebacker Ernest Jones IV. All five of those players became pivotal starters and leaders. That list doesn’t include contributions from Carlos Dunlap, another midseason pick-up.

He was on the right side of the biggest trade of his career, sending Russell Wilson to the Broncos for two first-round picks and more. Some other blockbuster deals have otherwise not panned out, whether it be Adams, Graham and Percy Harvin. You’ll not find me mounting a defense of the moves themselves, nor of his decision to pay massive amounts of money to two of those players.

But I’ll grant him this: in the midst of a slow baseball offseason, I certainly don’t want to sound hypocritical or apply expectations unevenly, so I’m not going to be overly critical of a willingness to be aggressive nor of a GM with a sense of urgency. There’s also something to be said about a GM who’s willing to move on from trades that haven’t worked, and the decisions to deal Harvin away and release Adams highlights that.

And yet… the same team that wasn’t afraid to trade a first-round pick for a tight end or make Adams the highest-paid safety is second-to-last in offensive line spending.

That is the single biggest issue facing the Schneider and the Seahawks right now, and the one that’ll keep them from contention until they fix it.

Schneider’s Seahawks O-lines have never been a top five or top 10 unit. The last time they won a Super Bowl was also the last year this front office spent a good chunk of money up front. Since then, they’ve ranked solidly in the bottom third of the league, and they were one of the worst groups in 2024. They don’t spend a ton of draft capital on linemen, nor do they usually dole out second contracts. Charles Cross, who was just the fourth first-round offensive lineman drafted by Schneider, may be just the second ever to receive an extension.

If 2024 made one thing incredibly clear, it’s this: all of the things that Schneider has shown a willingness to do — be aggressive, invest in players he believes in, and make trades — must be applied to the offensive line.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• A Seattle Seahawks player poised to benefit from new OC
• Salk: Why Seattle is still rooting for Pete Carroll
• Will Seahawks explore trading Geno Smith to Carroll’s Raiders?
• Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba earns Pro Bowl nod
• The Kubiak File: What insiders said about Seattle Seahawks’ new OC

Related

Stacy: Seahawks’ defense offers emphatic reminder of its dominanceWhy Mina Kimes says Seahawks’ game vs Chiefs is ‘huge’Stacy Rost: 3 numbers to know for Seahawks vs ChiefsWhy hasn’t Seahawks’ offense featured more AJ Barner?Breakdown: The crux of Seahawks’ offensive strugglesA key difference so far between Seahawks OC Fleury and predecessor Kubiak