Pete Carroll has removed the Seattle Seahawks from the quarterback trade market for now.
After not taking a quarterback in the 2022 NFL Draft, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is totally comfortable with what his franchise already has in the room.
When asked if the Seahawks were still looking at adding a veteran quarterback that has ample starting experience (i.e. Baker Mayfield), Carroll said, “I don’t see us making a trade for anybody at all. I don’t see that happening.” Seattle may continue to look to upgrade the position this summer, but for now, Carroll seems comfortable with Drew Lock, Geno Smith and Jacob Eason under center.
The Seahawks also added two undrafted free agents to the quarterback room in Kaleb Eleby out of Western Michigan and Levi Lewis out of Louisiana.
Seahawks HC Pete Carroll may be right in not adding to the quarterback room
While the Seahawks had long been a potential trade spot for the Cleveland Browns to send Baker Mayfield to, nothing Carroll has said in the lead-up to and after the NFL Draft leads us to believe he would be interested in adding the former No. 1 overall pick and Heisman Trophy winner. Mayfield may be playing on an expiring contract, but he is still getting paid first-round money.
If Cleveland were to release Mayfield, that would be different. The money might make enough sense to sign him. While Seattle is not in a position to trade in-division with the San Francisco 49ers for Jimmy Garoppolo, other potential quarterback candidates who could be on the move include Gardner Minshew of the Philadelphia Eagles and Sam Darnold with the Carolina Panthers.
Frankly, Seattle is rebuilding this season. While the offense will be a far cry from what it was with Russell Wilson running point, it may serve as a bit of a reset to the norm in which Carroll prefers to see a game played out: Win with stifling defense and ball control offensively. It may explain why the Seahawks loaded up on running backs. If Carroll wants to go Martyball, then let’s go Martyball!
Even if Seattle could use a quarterback upgrade, the dollars and cents have to make sense first.