The major moves that have reshaped the Seattle Seahawks into a Super Bowl contender again

SEATTLE - Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider was named the Executive of the Year in the NFL by the Pro Football Writers' Association for leading the overhaul of the team into a Super Bowl contender.

Schneider built one championship team a decade ago through shrewd moves and strong returns in the NFL Draft as Seattle brought him its first Lombardi Trophy in 2013. But as the Pete Carroll era stagnated at the turn of the decade, Schneider made some big swings to alter the course of the franchise.

Now the Seahawks are on the precipice of a return to the Super Bowl with a dynamic young coach, and a defense that rivals the Legion of Boom.

Here's how Schneider turned the Seahawks back into a contender. 

Russell Wilson traded to Broncos.

It's been four years since the Seahawks made the decision to move on from Russell Wilson. And while that decision doesn't directly lead to where the team is today, it set in motion the transition from one era to the next in Seattle.

Schneider dealt Wilson and a fourth-round pick the the Broncos in exchange for quarterback Drew Lock, tight end Noah Fant, defensive lineman Shelby Harris, two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a fifth-round pick.

Those draft selections turned into left tackle Charles Cross, cornerback Devon Witherspoon, linebackers Derick Hall, Boye Mafe, and Tyreke Smith.

While Fant, Harris and Smith are no longer with Seattle, Cross and Witherspoon have become franchise cornerstones, Hall and Mafe are significant role players, and Lock is back with the team as a backup quarterback.

After chasing a championship window through Wilson's extended tenure in Seattle, the Seahawks had mortgaged future assets in the process, such as trading a pair of first-round picks to the New York Jets for safety Jamal Adams.

The Wilson trade restocked the cupboards and allowed the team to move in a new direction.

Going from Pete Carroll to Mike Macdonald.

After two more years of marginal success with Geno Smith succeeding Wilson as the starting quarterback in Seattle under Carroll, the time came for the team to move on from the only coach to ever win a Super Bowl for the franchise.

Schneider was able to get Seahawks chair Jody Allen and vice chair Bert Kolde on board with a change at head coach, moving on from Carroll after the 2023 season. The Seahawks had won the NFC West just once in Carroll's final seven seasons as head coach, losing promptly at home to the Los Angeles Rams 30-20 to end the 2020 season in the Wild Card round.

"I want him to have this chance," Carroll said of Schneider running the franchise. "It's been 14 years, he's been waiting for his opportunity and he deserves it. And he's great at what he does. … He deserves this moment, and I was cheerleading for him. If there's nothing else that was part of this factor, that was the biggest factor. It was to help make sure that he could have this opportunity and he's going to go for it and I would do whatever I could to help him be successful still."

Carroll was the president of football operations in addition to his role as head coach, but the powers that be wanted Schneider to take full control.

"This isn't about me being the head coach. It's about this organization being successful and being on course for the long haul of it as well. I realize that," Carroll said.

While that part was a big decision on its own, Schneider was then tasked with finding the right replacement as well. After two seasons, it looks like he's hit a home run with that as well in hiring Mike Macdonald.

The Seahawks enter the NFC championship as the favorites to win the Super Bowl and would be heavy favorites against either the New England Patriots or Denver Broncos should they advance this weekend. Seattle's 14-3 regular season was tied with the Patriots and Broncos for best in the NFL this year, and the Seahawks finished the season as the No. 1 scoring defense, No. 3 scoring offense and a league-best points differential of plus-191.

Punting on Ryan Grubb after one season.

It took one season for the Seahawks to realize they had made a mistake with their initial offensive coordinator hire for Macdonald's staff and worked quickly to correct it.

There were already serious misgivings about Grubb and offensive line coach Scott Huff by midseason. Macdonald wants to be a physical team that runs the football as a core tenet. Grubb too often defaulted toward the passing game in key spots as the offense suffered.

The decision to make a change came quickly after the season for Macdonald and Schneider as they hired Klint Kubiak to take over the job. Kubiak is now a finalist for the AP Assistant Coach of the Year award with Seattle's offense soaring this season behind a breakout year from Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who is a finalist for AP Offensive Player of the Year after leading the league with 1,793 receiving yards. 

Midseason trades for Leonard Williams, Ernest Jones IV, and Rashid Shaheed.

In each of the last three seasons, Schneider has made a major trade during the year that has helped move the team forward.

In 2023, it was acquiring defensive tackle Leonard Williams from the New York Giants for a 2024 second-round draft pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick. Williams then re-signed with the team on a three-year deal worth $64.5 million after the season.

Williams has been a Pro Bowl selection in each of the last two years in Seattle, and was named a second-team All-Pro this year.

Last season, the Seahawks traded for linebacker Ernest Jones IV from the Tennessee Titans in exchange for linebacker Jerome Baker and a 2025 fourth-round draft pick.

Jones immediately helped to fix a porous run defense and has become the quarterback of Macdonald's unit. Like Williams, Jones signed an extension with Seattle worth $33 million over three years and parlayed that into a second-team All-Pro selection in 2025.

And then in October, Schneider acquired wide receiver/kick returner Rashid Shaheed from the New Orleans Saints in exchange for 2026 fourth- and fifth-round draft picks.

Shaheed had both a kickoff return touchdown (against Atlanta) and a punt return touchdown (against the Rams) before his 95-year kickoff return touchdown on the opening kickoff of last week's NFC Divisional matchup with the San Francisco 49ers.

While Shaheed hasn't had a massive impact on the passing game, he's also contributed as a runner on end-around hand-offs. It also served as the perfect fit for a major need since Tory Horton has been out wide a shin injury ever since Shaheed arrived in Seattle.

Shaheed has also expressed a desire to stay with the Seahawks for the long-term and would join Williams and Jones if he signs an extension with the team this offseason.

All three have helped fill needs and push the Seahawks to the verge of a Super Bowl appearance.

Trading Geno Smith, DK Metcalf.

Like the trade of Russell Wilson to Denver, Schneider knew when to pull the plug on two more long-term veterans.

An unbridgeable gap in contract talks with Smith due to perceived slights from the organization, and a desire to play elsewhere from Metcalf were the reasons behind the two big moves of last offseason for Schneider.

"We made an offer to Geno, tried to extend him, it became apparent that we weren't going to be able to get a deal done," Schneider said in March. "It wasn't like a very long negotiation. And so as a staff, we had to be prepared to pivot.

Smith wanted to negotiate an extension with Seattle prior to the 2024 season with two years remaining on his contract. However, the Seahawks, as a rule, don't negotiate new deals with more than a year left on contracts. Kam Chancellor and Marshawn Lynch also tried to leverage new deals two years out and failed previously due to the organization's policy.

The Seahawks were ghosted by Smith's camp on a contract offer they made coming out of the NFL Combine in February, and they quickly moved to trade Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders for a third-round pick that became quarterback Jalen Milroe.

A day after the trade, the Seahawks signed Sam Darnold, who piloted the team to the most regular season wins in franchise history.

"It worked out great," Schneider said of the decisions in March.

Additionally, Metcalf requested a trade after multiple conversations with Schneider throughout last season about issues the receiver had with the team.

"I thought we could fix it, handle it, whatever it was, and at the end of the day, it was a no, and he wanted to be traded. So we pivoted and moved forward," Schneider said.

Metcalf was sent to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a second-round pick. That pick was then traded to the Tennessee Titans as part of a package that allowed Seattle to draft safety Nick Emmanwori, who has become a vital cog of Macdonald's standout defense in his rookie season and is a finalist for the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

Major successes in the NFL Draft.

The Seahawks' front office had hit a bit of a cold streak in the NFL Draft after the early successes that built the Super Bowl teams.

Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas, K.J. Wright and more came straight from the NFL Draft to build Seattle's first Super Bowl champion.

After perhaps their weakest draft class ever in 2021, Schneider and his staff have hit on multiple key starters and contributors over the last four drafts to help rebuild a championship contender.

2022: Tackle Charles Cross (1st round - No. 9), linebacker Boye Mafe (2nd round - No. 40), running back Ken Walker III (2nd round - No. 41), tackle Abe Lucas (3rd round - No. 72), wide receiver Coby Bryant (4th round - No. 109), cornerback Riq Woolen (5th round - No. 153), wide receiver Dareke Young (7th round - No. 233).

2023: Cornerback Devon Witherspoon (1st round - No. 5), wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (1st round - No. 20), linebacker Derick Hall (2nd round - No. 37), running back Zach Charbonnet (2nd round - No. 52), guard Anthony Bradford (4th round - No. 108), defensive lineman Mike Morris (5th round - No. 151), center Olu Oluwatimi (5th round - No. 154).

2024: Defensive tackle Byron Murphy (1st round - No. 16), guard Christian Haynes (3rd round - No. 81), linebacker Tyrice Knight (4th round - No. 118), tight end A.J. Barner (4th round - No. 121), cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett (5th round - No. 136).

2025: Guard Grey Zabel (1st round - No. 18), safety Nick Emmanwori (2nd round - No. 35), tight end Elijah Arroyo (2nd round - No. 50), quarterback Jalen Milroe (3rd round - No. 92), defensive tackle Rylie Mills (5th round - No. 142), wide receiver Tory Horton (5th round - No. 166), fullback Robbie Ouzts (5th round - No. 175).

That's a lot of hits over the last four years, including every first-round pick and many early draft selections. You can't build a strong team purely through free agency. The foundations have to come from drafting and developing successfully, and the run Schneider and the front office are on have the team well situated for the future.

Signing Sam Darnold, DeMarcus Lawrence, Cooper Kupp in free agency.

You can't rely on free agent signings to build your team, but they can sure be a nice finishing touch.

The signing of Sam Darnold gave the Seahawks a solid quarterback option that can handle Klint Kubiak's offensive scheme successfully. Cooper Kupp's signing added depth to the receiving corps, gave Jaxon Smith-Njigba a former offensive player of the year to learn from, and brought his diligent work ethic back home to the northwest, and DeMarcus Lawrence helped take the Seattle defense and turn it into the nightmare it is for opposing offenses today.

Lawrence's signing might be the best free agent signing of the offseason by any team in the NFL. He signed a three-year deal worth $42 million with Seattle after 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. A 32-year-old veteran coming off a serious foot injury isn't expected to be able to do what Lawrence has for Seattle this season.

Lawrence missed just one game this season, racked up six sacks, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries, including two for touchdowns in a win over the Arizona Cardinals that earned him NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors in November. Lawrence earned the fifth Pro Bowl nod of his career in the process and is deeper in the playoffs than he ever reached with the Cowboys.

It all adds up to Schneider being deserving of the Executive of the Year crown, even if it's truly been a few years of work all coming together to make the final product.

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