RENTON — Making a trade in the NFL can be a finicky transaction.
This isn’t like Major League Baseball or the National Hockey League where often trades are made involving a pool of prospects that are unproven at the highest levels and destined to be part of the future. NFL trades are almost always about sacrificing either players currently on your roster or giving up cherished and needed draft capital in the future.
Making a trade in the middle of a season can be even more challenging. How will a new player assimilate to an already established locker room? What are the chances of that player making a substantial impact on the field? Is there the possibility they will want to stick around long-term, especially if the player is on an expiring contract?
Ultimately, it comes down to is acquiring that player worth the cost?
All those valid questions about the volatility surrounding trades made what took place Saturday night at Lumen Field so notable. Three midseason trades made by Seahawks general manager John Schneider over the past three seasons each stood out in their own way in creating the 41-6 blowout win over the 49ers that sent them to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in more than a decade.
This was far from the first game where Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones IV and Rashid Shaheed made a significant impact in what happened on the field and what showed on the scoreboard. Their influences have been felt throughout what’s so far been an unexpectedly special season for the Seahawks.
But for all three to be that impactful in one game highlighted how those three moves over each of the last three seasons ended up being exactly what this team needed.
“I think it’s just the same attitude; we’re relentless,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said after the victory. “I mean, what do you want to call it? You want to call it chasing edges? That’s the language that we use. Our philosophy is we’re just constantly chasing it. What are the things that we can do to make our team better all the time? Whether it’s through acquisition or a period in practice or maybe it’s something pregame, scheme, personnel. All those things, it’s a relentless attitude to try to always make the team better.”
The win over the 49ers saw Williams provide one of the more important moments of the game when he sacked Brock Purdy on fourth-and-2 on the first drive of the second half. Jones forced a fumble in the first half and forced his way into an interception in the second half, his sixth in all games this season.
And Shaheed got it all started with his 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on the opening kickoff.
While there were plenty more involved in creating the blowout victory, Williams understood the symbol of three players acquired by Schneider being in the spotlight.
“I feel like [Schneider’s] done a great job bringing in the right personnel, not just talent wise but personality wise, which has helped create that family identity,” Williams said. “I think that’s the kind of vibe he gives off as well, him and his wife, and I think they do a great job of making it feel like family here. It makes everyone feel comfortable. It makes us lean into that loose and focused vibe. It’s fun to go to work. I’ve been places where you have to drag yourself out of bed to go to work. It’s kind of hard sometimes. Here, we love being around each other.”
While the history of offseason trades during Schneider’s tenure is a mixed-bag of results — see Russell Wilson’s trade to Denver (good) and Jamal Adams’ acquisition from the Jets (not so good) — the moves he’s made in-season throughout his time in charge of the Seahawks front office are some of the most important acquisitions in franchise history.
There were the moves at the end of training camp to get defensive line help with Jadeveon Clowney (2019) and Sheldon Richardson (2017).
There was the attempt to solidify left tackle in 2017 bringing in veteran Duane Brown in the middle of the season, a position that he held down for the next four seasons.
In 2010, Schneider capped a busy year of dealing by sending Deion Branch to the Patriots for a draft pick that eventually became K.J. Wright. And a week before the Branch trade, Schneider changed the direction and demeanor of the franchise for the next half-decade by getting Marshawn Lynch out of Buffalo.
The moves the past three seasons with Williams (2023), Jones (2024) and Shaheed this season are each deserving of being on that list.
“Two All-Pros in trade, that’s pretty good,” Macdonald said.
In each of the most recent three deals, Schneider gave up some capital. Landing Williams meant giving up a second-round pick and a fifth-rounder. Jones was acquired for a starter in linebacker Jerome Baker who didn’t fit what Macdonald needed, and a fourth-round pick. Shaheed cost the Seahawks fourth- and fifth-round picks in the 2026 draft and leaves Schneider and his crew with only four picks — first, second, third and sixth rounds — as it stands.
It helps that the Seahawks are already one of the youngest teams in the league that sacrificing some draft picks now doesn’t hamstring the future. But if some of Shaheed’s biggest moments from this season end up leading to a championship, relinquishing a few picks will be worth it.
“It means everything. Just to come out here and be part of this team, it’s super special,” Shaheed said. “Being a part of the wide receiver room, it’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced and it’s been nothing but a dream come true. We’ve just got to keep stacking wins.”