Breaking down John Schneider’s bold moves: Seahawks’ high-stakes gamble for 2025.
In our latest HawksZone Rundown podcast episode, we dive deep into the revelations from John Schneider’s March 13 comments, unpacked by Corbin Smith of Locked On Seahawks. Schneider’s transparency about the team’s decisions was a key point of discussion.
On Geno Smith, he revealed that the Seahawks made a “strong offer” but received “no counter,” reaffirming their desire to keep him while ultimately prioritizing the franchise’s long-term future. When it came to DK Metcalf, Schneider acknowledged a series of “personal discussions,” admitting, “I thought we could fix it, but he wanted to be traded.”
Hosts Bryce Coutts and Ryan MacMillan then pressed Smith on Seattle’s shift in philosophy under new head coach Mike Macdonald, emphasizing commitment over simply retaining stars. The conversation quickly turned to Seattle’s high-stakes, high-reward outlook. With five top-100 draft picks on the table, the Seahawks are in a strong position to address key needs, whether that be shoring up the offensive line or tackling the ongoing QB uncertainty. At the same time, defensive signings like DeMarcus Lawrence and the re-signing of Ernest Jones IV should help solidify that side of the ball.
The success of players like Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba will be pivotal for Seattle’s 2025 contention hopes. If they can make an immediate impact, it could set the stage for a serious playoff push. According to Smith, the team’s strategy feels like a daring gamble—one that could either lead to a boom or a bust. The stakes have never been higher for the Seahawks, and the next few seasons could define the franchise’s future.
As far as GM John Schneider, whose contract runs through the 2027 NFL Draft, Smith believes that a sub-.500 season could jeopardize his job security.
“I think if they win 8 games or less, the seat gets incredibly hot,” Smith said. “You won 10 games last year with an offense that underachieved. You fired your offensive coordinator. Your defense was top-5 in the NFL in scoring over the last eight weeks. Pretty much the entire group is back and now you’ve added DeMarcus Lawrence to that group, Byron Murphy II is going into year two. And oh by the way you’ve got 10 draft picks now. You need to take advantage of that draft capital to bring in more impact players and round out this roster.
“I find it hard to believe that Jody Allen and company are going to be sitting back and going ‘you know? That’s okay.’ They want to be back in the postseason. I’m sure they okayed these moves thinking this can open up some money and we can improve the roster, and in the end it’s going to be a net positive.
“If they are not in contention and they have a losing record, I think 8-9 could potentially put him in trouble, just because I feel like they have a defense that is ready-made for them to be a contender. The offense has just got to be slightly better than last year. They don’t even need to be a top 10 offense. They need to be top 12-13 range, they probably would’ve won 12 games last year if that was the case.”
You can listen to the rest of Corbin’s interview below.
Show Topics (timestamps included)
- Intro (0:00): Introduction to the show and the topics that will be covered
- Corbin Smith Introduction (1:30): Corbin Smith Introduction
- Comments From John Schneider about DK and Geno (1:57): Discussed John’s Schneider’s comments from his show
- Offensive Reset (9:34): Corbin talks about this offensive reset and what we can expect from this offense moving forward
- Is John Schneider on the Hot Seat (17:25): Corbin discusses what it would take this season for John’s job to really be on the line
- Running Back Room (19:19): Do we draft another running back in this deep running back draft?
- Free Agency Grade (23:05): Discussed the overall grade for this free agency period
- Recap (32:12): Ryan and Bryce recap the Corbin Smith takes and then give their own analysis
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