RENTON, Wash. – A day of celebration for the Seattle Seahawks as they introduced Sam Darnold as their new quarterback turned into a day of explanation about the events that led to his arrival.
Shortly after Darnold’s news conference with coach Mike Macdonald and offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Seahawks president of football operations and general manager John Schneider stood in a hallway and fielded questions from reporters for 15 minutes in his first public comments about one of the more dizzying weeks in recent team history.
Here’s a recap of what he said about the trade of Geno Smith and the signing of Darnold as well as the trade of DK Metcalf.
Team had ‘no back and forth’ with Smith
Schneider confirmed the Seahawks offered Smith a contract extension with one year remaining on his deal – which a source said was for two years in the range of $40 million a year – and they hoped would be the start of a negotiation on a new contract.
Schneider said Smith’s side did not respond to the offer, and that it was that silence that led to the decision to trade him.
“There was no back and forth coming,” he said of the talks that began early last week and culminated in the trade of Smith on Friday afternoon to the Raiders for a 2025 third-round pick (No. 92). “That’s when it became pretty evident that we should trade him to the Raiders.”
The Seahawks are thought to have decided late in the week, after having no real communication with Smith, that it was time to move on.
“We made an offer to Geno, tried to extend him,” Schneider said. “It became apparent that we weren’t going to be able to get a deal done. It wasn’t like a very long negotiation.”
Schneider said Smith did not ask for a trade, as has been reported, but that the team simply made the decision to move on quickly once talks broke down, especially with free agency just days away.
It helped that they found out that Darnold would be available after the Vikings did not place the franchise tag on him.
“As a staff we had to be prepared to pivot,” Schneider said. “So we sat down with the offensive staff and obviously the personnel guys were on it before anyway. But always having a contingency plan and having to pivot. So we had several guys we were interested in, made the trade and were able to get the guy at the top of the list, which doesn’t happen all the time.”
That former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll is now with the Raiders made them an amenable trade partner.
Schneider said the Raiders only became interested once it was apparent that Matthew Stafford was staying with the Rams and would not be an option in their efforts to find a new quarterback.
Asked if he had talks with Carroll about Smith on the trip to the NFL combine when they were on the same plane out of Seattle, Schneider said: “Not at that point. I think they thought they were getting Matthew Stafford at that point.”
During a later appearance on Seattle Sports 710, Schneider said there were no other teams involved in trade talks with Smith in part because it became apparent quickly the Raiders would make a deal.
“It was pretty clear that the Raiders were interested,” he said.
Asked if he was surprised at Smith not negotiating, Schneider said it was “just part of the business, part of the negotiation. It was just – I don’t know if it was surprising or not it was just reality.”
As for zeroing in on Darnold, who agreed to a three-year deal worth up to $100.5 million, Schneider noted that Kubiak coached him with the 49ers in 2023 and that others on the staff also have experience with him.
“You just watched that progression (of his career), watched the work ethic, the character of the person, scheme fits, and it worked out perfect,” Schneider said.
On Metcalf: ‘We want guys that want to be here’
The Seahawks learned last week before the Smith trade that Metcalf wanted to be traded. At that time, Schneider said on his radio show on Seattle Sports 710 that the Seahawks wouldn’t rush into a deal and were prepared to hang onto Metcalf for the 2025 season since he was still under contract for one more year.
Schneider painted a picture Thursday that made it clear the team felt it was best to move on from Metcalf quickly.
“There was discussions DK and I were having, a lot of personal discussions,” Schneider said. “I thought we could fix it, handle it, whatever it was. And at the end of the day it was a no, and he wanted to be traded. So we pivoted and moved forward.”
Metcalf agreed to a four-year extension with the Steelers and is under contract for five more years at a total of up to $150 million. Money was likely the biggest reason Metcalf wanted to move on, though other reasons were rumored over the last week as well, including wanting to play for a contender. Schneider said he couldn’t say specifically why Metcalf wanted to be traded.
“We want guys that want to be here, you know what I mean?” he said. “We want guys that believe in what we are doing and you’d have to ask him. For one reason or another, he just wanted to move on and get a fresh start.”
Schneider said he and his staff worked through some different options along with Metcalf and his agency and “it ended up being Pittsburgh.”
Metcalf met the media in Pittsburgh at roughly the same time Schneider was talking in Seattle.
Asked about the past week, Metcalf focused more on his excitement about being in Pittsburgh, noting he has known Mike Tomlin since meeting him before the 2019 draft.
“It is just a big blessing just to come to a new home,” Metcalf said. “Not discrediting anything from the Seahawks’ organization because they gave me a chance to become who I am in this league and I just thank them for that. But found a new home here, found a new fiancée and everything’s just falling in line.”
The two trades, as well as the release of Tyler Lockett, have led some to view the Seahawks as in a rebuilding phase. Schneider noted the release of Lockett was in the works for a while and the trades of Smith and Metcalf were simply reacting to events that arose.
“It’s just all this huge piece with salaries and scheme fits and people wanting to be here and people not wanting to be here,” he said. “So you just have to be able to continue to pivot. And we didn’t just do that to make those moves to just chill. Like, we’re going for it. We’re fighting every day.”