SEATTLE -- John Schneider has drafted a quarterback only twice in his 15 years as the Seattle Seahawks general manager.
Will the third come in the 2025 NFL draft?
Quarterback isn't considered a strength of this year's draft class, at least in terms of early-round prospects. Nor is it a need for the Seahawks. They recently re-signed Drew Lock as the presumed backup to Sam Darnold, making them as deep at the position as they've been in recent memory given that Sam Howell and Jaren Hall are also still on the roster.
"I think it's a great situation," Schneider told Seattle Sports 710-AM last week. "We have four guys that we really like."
None of that would suggest that the Seahawks are poised to add to the position in the draft. But a closer look at the matter reveals that for every reason to assume this won't be the year Schneider finally takes another quarterback, there's one to think that he could do so on Day 2 or 3.
The most obvious is that they used two of their 30 pre-draft visits on Louisville's Tyler Shough and Alabama's Jalen Milroe, flying out both prospects to the Seahawks facility. Those two represent the top of an intriguing second tier of quarterback options beyond projected first-rounders Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders and Jaxson Dart. That may be why Schneider, during one of his weekly radio appearances, pushed back at the notion that this isn't a strong class at the position.
Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald have more draft capital (10 total picks) to work with than usual, picking up extra second- and third-round picks in the DK Metcalf and Geno Smith trades, respectively.
There's also the fact that the Seahawks aren't truly tied to any of their quarterbacks beyond 2025. Darnold's three-year, $100.5 million contract gives the team an out after one season if they wanted one. Howell, last year's backup, is on the trade block now that Lock has returned. Seattle gave him a two-year, $5 million deal that includes $2.25 million in guarantees, which is low-end backup money.
"It doesn't preclude us from doing anything in the draft," Schneider told the station about the Lock signing.
Still, Schneider's draft history remains hard to ignore.
To date, the only quarterbacks he's selected since arriving in Seattle in 2010 are Russell Wilson and Alex McGough, a sixth-rounder in 2018 who spent one season on the Seahawks' practice squad before bouncing around the NFL and being named MVP of the USFL.
It's a hard reality to square with Schneider's background. He cut his scouting teeth with the Green Bay Packers under general manager Ron Wolf, who made it an almost-annual exercise to draft a player at the most important position in all of professional sports.
"It's just never fit," Schneider said at the league meetings about only drafting two quarterbacks in 15 years. "... We have tried moving a couple times for guys and it just hasn't worked out. You've got to be really careful not to overpay just because you feel like you just really love a guy. You just have to be really careful with ... what you're going to give up. That just hasn't fit for us over the years."
Schneider's quarterback history would have looked drastically different had the Cleveland Browns been willing to play ball with him back in 2018, when he called them to gauge their interest in trading the No. 1 overall selection for Wilson. Schneider wanted to draft Josh Allen with the first pick, but the conversation with Cleveland was a non-starter.
"And then the guys need so many reps, and we don't have NFL Europe anymore," Schneider said at the league meetings. "So we've kind of been in this world of like, 'Why don't we take this guy that's played and help him get better?' Compared to a draftable guy."
If having to develop quarterbacks has deterred the Seahawks from drafting them, then that would seemingly be less of an issue with Shough. He played seven college seasons and ran offenses with pro-style concepts at Oregon and Louisville.
Schneider has not shied away from spending early-round picks on older players, though Shough would easily be the oldest, as he turns 26 in September. He also missed parts of three seasons with serious injuries. That may have factored into the Seahawks' decision to bring him in for a visit, as that would have allowed their medical staff to take a closer look.
Whereas Shough is a 6-foot-5 pocket passer, Milroe could be a Wildcat/gadget-play weapon for new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, something he had in Taysom Hill last season with the New Orleans Saints. By far a more gifted runner than any other quarterback in this year's class, Milroe has all the mobility that Kubiak could ever want for an offense that will use plenty of bootlegs as a natural complement to outside-zone runs. Even if Milroe never develops as a passer, Kubiak could have a new version of Hill, whom the OC has called one of the best football players he's ever been around.
Mike Tannenbaum and Adam Schefter discuss whether Tyler Shough can be a franchise quarterback despite his injury history.
If the Seahawks first address the glaring need in the interior of their offensive line, then Milroe is the type of upside splurge that is easier to imagine them making given their extra second- and third-round selections. They have five picks in the first 100 -- Nos. 18, 50, 52, 82 and 92. They also have a fourth, two fifths and two sevenths.
In his March 27 mock draft, ESPN's Matt Miller has Milroe falling to 83 overall. Field Yates also has him lasting beyond the second round. More recent mocks from Jordan Reid and Mel Kiper Jr. have him going early in the second. Kiper, Miller and Yates all tab Shough to be taken at the top of the second round, and Reid has him at the top of the third.
Ohio State's Will Howard could have appeal early on Day 3 for the same reason as Shough. He started 43 games over five college seasons. Sixteen of them came last year as he helped the Buckeyes win a national championship before his poor throwing session at the NFL combine. Reid and Miller both project Howard to still be available early in Round 5.
"I think so," Macdonald answered at the league meetings when asked if Seattle could draft a quarterback. "But my answer to that's going to be yes every year. I think you've just got to be willing to take a quarterback. We'll see. It's got to be the right person, the right opportunity and if it comes to life, then we'll do it."