SEATTLE – On Thursday, Seahawks general manager John Schneider said during an appearance on Seattle Sports 710 the team was open to having newly signed Drew Lock compete with Sam Howell for the backup quarterback job behind Sam Darnold.
On Friday, a report from ESPN emerged that the Seahawks are also open to trading Howell and clearing out what is suddenly something of a logjam at quarterback.
ESPN cited sources saying that Seattle has “received inquiries from teams interested’’ in acquiring Howell.
Seattle is likely hoping to pull off a deal before Thursday’s NFL draft, surely aiming to acquire another pick to add to the 10 it already has.
The news Seattle is considering trading Howell should come as no surprise, though, considering the contrasting contracts of Lock and Howell.
Lock signed a two-year deal earlier this week worth up to $5 million with $2.25 million fully guaranteed while Howell is entering the final season of his rookie deal with a $1.1 million base salary for 2025 that is not guaranteed, and no other guaranteed money.
That seemed to indicate Seattle brought back Lock with the intention that he would be the backup to Darnold, who is replacing the traded Geno Smith as the team’s starter.
Seattle also has Jaren Hall on the roster who could fill the role of practice squad quarterback, and Schneider also said Thursday that bringing back Lock — who also held the backup role in 2022 and 2023 — “doesn’t preclude’’ taking a quarterback in the draft.
“Really excited to have all four of those guys,’’ Schneider said. “To have Sam Howell and Drew kind of competing for that second spot is a pretty good deal for us.”
Seattle, though, appears hoping now to try to get something for Howell instead of facing the possibility of cutting him later and getting nothing.
The Seahawks have rarely had more than two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster during the regular season, generally also carrying another on the practice squad.
“I think it’s a great situation,” Schneider said Thursday. “We have four guys that we really like. … It doesn’t preclude us from doing anything in the draft either, in figuring out what’s going on there.’
“… Drew had other opportunities, so we figured we better wrap this up, kind of put a bow on it, get him in the building and then let’s see what happens in the draft, because it’s difficult to find that great fit at quarterback as you move through the process.’’
Seattle acquired Howell from Washington in March 2024 for what was a swap of mid- to late-round picks.
Seattle gave up third- and fifth-round picks (which turned out to be 78 and 152) for Howell and fourth- and sixth-round picks (which turned out to be 102 and 179).
Howell, a 24-year-old who was the 144th overall pick of the 2022 draft out of North Carolina, started all 17 games for Washington in 2023 but was dealt after the Commanders went 4-13 and earned the second pick in the draft. Washington used that pick to take Jayden Daniels.
Howell played in only two games last season as a reserve with 24 of his 25 snaps coming as an injury replacement when Smith hurt his knee in a December game against Green Bay.
Howell, who entered the game with Seattle already trailing 20-3, went 5 of 14 for 24 yards and an interception as well as four sacks as the Packers finished off a 30-13 win.
Schneider said the Seahawks felt the change in offensive coordinators from Ryan Grubb to Klint Kubiak could help Howell. Kubiak’s offense makes more use of plays such as bootlegs and others that get QBs on the run.
“Sam was put in a very hard spot last year,” Schneider said. “He comes in, he’s learning a new system. … We loved the toughness and everything. He comes in, learns a whole new system that was heavy, heavy drop-back and gets thrown into a game where we’re behind, we’re throwing the ball every play, backed up. It didn’t go well for him. He would admit that, probably from a preparation standpoint, too. But he wasn’t put in a great spot.”
But Friday’s news indicates Howell could find himself in another spot than Seattle soon enough.