No Deal: Seahawks stay put with confidence in both present and future

John Schneider makes a bunch of trades, but had himself a siesta during Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline.

The Seattle Seahawks have not acquired any players for future capital, which indicates a big vote of confidence in two pieces of this team. Two men, in particular, who hold the future of this season very much in their hands.

Clint Hurtt and the very real defense

The Seattle defense has been approaching stellar for three weeks now. What component would even be worthy of consideration for a potential upgrade? You’re not going to upgrade at safety, and not at cornerback. There’s Cody Barton, sure, but they seem to have found a new approach with him. He’s on the field quite as much, and when he is, his ability to lose the game has vanished.

That leaves the line. Jacob Martin moved, Bradley Chubb moved, Brian Burns was floated up and down the NFL river. You can never have enough pass rush, the old adage goes. Why not trade for an elite rusher and bolster a good defense?

That’s not Seattle’s situation right now. Like it or not, they have an elite rusher. His name is Uchenna Nwosu, and he is a top-5 QB pressurer through half of a season. He’s signed for another year.

Well what about the other side? That’s asking Schneider, Pete Carroll and Hurtt to wrench something that took five weeks to stabilize. Adding another edge rusher displaces Darrell-literally-just-found-it-again-Taylor, it displaces impressive rookie Boye Mafe, it displaces Bruce Irvin brought in to bring experience and culture and throw quarterbacks at fools.

It could have been done, and was likely talked about, and even more likely ended with an agreement that the cost - both financially and structurally, was not worth the risk.

Geno Smith

What could be aided on offense? A running back, absolutely, but to trade something away for somebody with talent in between DeeJay Dallas / Travis Homer and Kenneth Walker doesn’t make much sense. Tight ends are good, offensive line isn’t changing.

A wide receiver.

The reason the Seahawks did not trade for a wide receiver is because of their confidence in Geno Smith. Both now and in the future. The last two weeks are perfect examples: in one game they lost DK Metcalf; the other, he and Tyler Lockett were banged up. Lockett also played the worst game of his career in Week 8.

In those two games, Seattle put up 64 points while Smith threw for four touchdowns and one pick.

This offense and Smith’s familiarity with it is such that he is quite equipped even without what others might call a “number one” receiver.

They didn’t trade for one now because they believe the receivers are fine and that Smith can continue to crush the tight end game or embody “next man up” with the pass catchers.

They didn’t trade for one now because they believe in Geno Smith next year as well.

Receiver will emerge as one of the top needs on the draft boards of ESPN et. all next year, and the Seahawks are in a perfect position to grab one.

The Geno Smith 2023 and beyond train is picking up speed, and it does the team no good to tinker too much with what could be a second blockbuster draft year. If they’re not going to use capital to trade up and take a top-5 QB - which they absolutely and unequivocally should not - the opportunities to refill any remaining holes next year are tantalizing.

The NFC is bad bad bad this year, and Seattle just showed its athletes by not trading that they believe this roster can compete right now.

And get even better next season.