It's been an offseason of transition for the Seattle Seahawks. Not only did the team move on from Pete Carroll after 14 seasons, but it looks like there's also a chance that the Seahawks could bring in a new starting quarterback for the upcoming season.
Nothing is set in stone yet, but there's definitely no guarantee that Geno Smith will be the starter when the 2024 season kicks off in September. During a recent interview with Aaron Levine of KCPQ TV in Seattle, new coach Mike Macdonald was asked if Smith and Drew Lock would be "involved in the future of this organization going forward," and he was very non-committal with his answer.
"That's a tough question and it's one that I probably can't answer right now," Macdonald said. "But we're doing a lot of work on those guys and I've had conversations just to get to know them and understand who they are as people and their background, and goals and what their family's like and where they're from. I didn't know anything about them coming into this whole thing. So, right now we're in the phase of figuring out who they are."
Although Macdonald wouldn't commit to either guy, he did leave the door open for them to play for the Seahawks in 2024.
"Obviously, one or two, or both, would fit into our plans moving forward. But right now, probably don't have that answer for you," Macdonald said.
Most new coaches would probably say something like, "Geno Smith is under contract and he's our quarterback right now," so bonus points to Macdonald for being honest about the situation.
No matter what happens, it seems unlikely that we'll see both quarterbacks return in 2024. With Lock set to hit free agency on March 13, and with the Seahawks not sounding overly committed to bringing him back right now, it seems likely that he'll be hitting the market this year.
As for Smith, that's a slightly more complicated issue. Not only is Smith's $12.7 million salary for 2024 fully guaranteed, but the Seaahwks also restructured his contract in a move that saved them $4.8 million in cap space for 2024. Due to that, the Seahawks would take on a $27 million dead cap hit if they were to trade Smith before June 1, according to Over the Cap. If the trade happened after June 1 or after the 2024 season, then the cap hit would drop to $13.5 million for 2024 and $13.5 million for 2025.
What this means is that Smith's contract puts him in a perfect spot to be a bridge quarterback. The Seahawks could theoretically draft someone and then let the new guy sit behind Smith for a year before moving on from their veteran starter. Of course, if they love someone in free agency or even the draft, they could go after that guy and simply cut or trade Smith before the start of the 2024 season. Getting hit with a $27 million dead cap charge isn't ideal, but plenty of teams have had to deal with similar cap hits before.
As we head into the meat of the offseason, there will be plenty of teams looking for a quarterback -- like the Commanders, Patriots, Falcons, Vikings and Raiders -- and now, we might be able to add the Seahawks to that list.
