If you didn't see it yet, Rob Rang recently released his Seahawks' Draft Preview so go give it a read. The thing he mentioned that stood out most to me was in his final paragraph:
Quarterback is also a critical need and the team may feel free pressured to nab one of the top West Coast Offense quarterbacks like TCU's Andy Dalton or Florida State's Christian Ponder with their first round pick. Neither is likely to be available when the Seahawks draft in the second round.
God I hope not. I am not 100% sure on who Rang would endorse for the Hawks at QB, but it seems that he's being pretty smart in his analysis by saying the Hawks may feel pressured to take a QB. You'll note that he refrains from saying he thinks they need to or should take Dalton or Ponder at #25. While the idea that the Hawks may end up feeling pressured to take a QB with their 1st rounder because that QB won't be there in the 2nd is valid, I really don't see it happening.
In my opinion, John Schneider and Pete Carroll are very savvy and although they preach the 'win now' philosophy, I don't think they will fall for the hype and reach for a limited prospect like Dalton or Ponder. They're both in this for the long run, theoretically, and they won't pass up elite talent at other key positions just to fill a hole right now, something that Schneider alluded to recently when he said:
It depends on the year, but just know going forward that if it's a bad quarterback year and there isn't a guy there and they get taken off, it's fine, but especially in the Draft, it's not an area you can panic about.
You have to translate what you think he's saying and he may even be spouting a smokescreen, but to me this says the Hawks won't be reaching for someone just because the media has elevated these guys from marginal 3rd to 4th round prospects to likely 1st round picks. The Hawks have to think value when making their choice at #25, and to me, Ponder and Dalton are simply a terrible value in the first round. There's a reason they were all graded they way they were after the season, and they've only risen recently because of the hype around the combine results and lockout scenarios presenting this idea that everyone has to get their QB or the world will end.
The Hawks still have Charlie Whitehurst - who despite limited action, shows some promise. There will be a good amount of free agents available once the lockout is lifted that the Hawks could pursue as a bridge or stopgap solution. I don't believe the Hawks will panic and reach for a high-floor, low ceiling QB despite the deafening cacophony of hype surrounding these guys. They will stay the course with the assumption in mind that they're building for a championship dynasty, not banking their jobs on 'winning' in 2011.