The Seattle Seahawks are going into this year’s NFL draft looking to move back. General manager John Schneider said Monday that the team has only four picks and will be shopping for a trade-down from the No. 32 selection.
"It's no secret with us, we have four picks, so we'll be looking to move back," Schneider said. The Seahawks have the fewest draft selections in the league, and the No. 32 pick gives them one of the most flexible positions in the opening round if they can find a partner willing to climb.
What makes the setup more interesting is where Seattle is willing to do business. Schneider said the Seahawks are not opposed to making deals inside the NFC West, and said he would make one even if a division rival moved up for a quarterback. "We've talked within our division," he said. "That was kind of frowned upon for a while, like you don't trade within your division. Everybody in our division, we would trade with."
The Arizona Cardinals have been linked to Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson and own the Nos. 3 and 34 picks, while the New York Jets hold the 33rd pick. That puts several clubs in range of the top of the second round, where Seattle could try to slide back and add more choices.
Division trades are still uncommon, but they are not rare enough to be shocking. Since NFL realignment in 2002, there have been 35 draft-day trades between division opponents in 24 drafts. Schneider has been part of only one such trade since taking over as the Seahawks’ general manager in 2010, when Seattle sent the 32nd pick to the Minnesota Vikings in 2014 and Minnesota used it on Teddy Bridgewater.
That deal fit a pattern. Schneider has traded back in the first round in 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and the Seahawks did not have first-round picks in 2013 or 2015. The franchise has often preferred to collect more swings rather than stand pat, especially when it is sitting near the back of the first round.
This year may make that approach even easier to act on. Starting this draft, the time between first-round picks drops from 10 minutes to eight, and Schneider said that should not change how teams negotiate. "No, I think that you're usually ahead anyway, you're a couple picks ahead," he said. "That extra two minutes is not going to make a difference in terms of trading or moving around, that sort of thing." For the Seahawks, the clock is shorter, but the plan is the same: find a deal, move back and keep building.
