Why didn’t the picks-loaded Seahawks draft a quarterback? The QB they wanted at 5 was gone

Gregg Bell
·4 min read
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They didn’t do it.

After all the hype and projections — after they were intrigued by the physical skills and meteoric potential of Anthony Richardson, in particular — the Seahawks did not draft a quarterback.

Not because they didn’t want to. It’s because the one they wanted to draft wasn’t available when it was Seattle’s turn to pick.

That is, at fifth overall in round one Thursday.

“There’s three quarterbacks that went right ahead of us,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said Saturday after the 2023 NFL draft ended with 10 Seattle selections, none QBs. “And you can’t just push it because of like a narrative.

“It has to feel right for everybody, the whole team, the locker room, coaches.”

Bryce Young, the Alabama quarterback, went first overall, to Carolina. Quarterback C.J. Stroud from Ohio State went second, to Houston. After the Texans traded up with Arizona to take Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson third, QB-needy Indianapolis selected Richardson fourth.

The Seahawks knew Young was going to the Panthers. Carolina general manager Scott Fitterer, a Seattle native and assistant under Schneider on the Seahawks player personnel side for a decade, traded up from nine to one with Chicago to get Young. Schneider also knew the Texans, also in dire need of a franchise quarterback, were going to take Stroud. That was despite the ridiculous misdirection rumors planted by teams or agents or anyone with thumbs and an internet connection that Stroud would drop way out of the top of the first round.

So they were intrigued by Richardson, the most realistic option at quarterback for Seattle. If the Colts at four had decided on Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, Richardson might be a Seahawk right now, ready to spend 2023 learning behind re-signed Pro Bowl quarterback Geno Smith.

The Seahawks very publicly attended the campus pro days of Young, Stroud, Levis and Stroud. It became known as Seattle’s “selfie tour” with coach Pete Carroll and Schneider muggin’ with the top QB prospects.

But we’ll never know if Schneider and Carroll would have taken Richardson, whose potential comes with the unknown after having only 13 college starts for Florida.

The Seahawks selected Illinois cornerback Devon Witherspoon with their fifth pick.

Cornerback Devon Witherspoon, the fifth pick in the NFL draft April 27, 2023, with his mother Rhasheda Bickley to his immediate right, plus his brother, sister and nieces at Seahawks headquarters in Renton April 28, 2023. Mom convinced her son to go out for football his junior year at Pine Forest High School in Pensacola, Florida. As Seattle coach Pete Carroll said, “Good for Mom! Nice call.”

The smashing ball hawk Carroll likened to Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu will start opposite 2022 rookie Pro Bowl cornerback Tariq Woolen, giving Seattle perhaps the league’s best young duo at that vital position.

And the Seahawks still have drafted only two quarterbacks in 14 years with Carroll and Schneider running their show: Wilson, third round 2012, and long-forgotten Alex McGough in the seventh and final round in 2018.

For 2023 at the sport’s most vital position, the Seahawks will roll on with Smith on a new three-year contract with a base value of $75 million that the team could get out of after one or two years at relatively low salary-cap charges. Seattle also re-signed former Denver starter Drew Lock, acquired in March 2022 in the Russell Wilson trade to the Broncos. Lock re-signed last month.

Carrroll acknowledged the team feared Lock, a free agent in March, would sign with 2022 Seahawks quarterback coach Dave Canales, now in Tampa Bay. Canales is the Buccaneers’ new offensive coordinator. He and Lock grew close last season. They ran every play in each week’s game plan after every practice, to compensate for Smith and not Lock getting all the repetitions in the main practice sessions.

After not drafting a quarterback, the Seahawks are reportedly signing former East Carolina quarterback Holton Ahlers as an undrafted rookie free agent.

“I think too it’s: We do like our guys,” Carroll said of Smith and Lock returning. “We do like where we are. And we need to add another one, for sure, and that will likely happen. But we’re fired up about Geno coming back for us and we’re fired up about Drew being back. I think the opportunity for Drew is a really good one, again, to grow with our program and become part of it.

“We think that’s a real strength of ours, and so we need to prove that, but we think we’re going to be in good shape there.”