It’s just days until the start of free agency, and all of a sudden the Seattle Seahawks are in the market for a new quarterback after trading Pro Bowl signal caller Geno Smith to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Speculation had been that the Hawks trimmed cap space ahead of free agency not just to come into compliance with the salary cap, but to make a big move when free agency opened. But, of course, all that speculation came prior to the reports Friday evening that the Seahawks had agreed to trade their franchise quarterback one day before the third anniversary of trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos.
Following in the tradition of the 2022 trade that landed the Hawks a bevy of draft picks and sent Russ to the Rocky Mountains for a couple of mediocre seasons, John Schneider cleared more than $30M of 2025 cap space and added a third round pick while sending the incumbent quarterback to an AFC West team. The immediate speculation was that the Hawks have their quarterback of the future identified and would have additional cap space to ink a signal caller in free agency, whether that be Kirk Cousins, Sam Darnold or someone else.
Cousins could certainly be an option, having played for the Minnesota Vikings in 2021 when Klint Kubiak was offensive coordinator, but he appeared a shell of his former self in 2024 with the Atlanta Falcons, complaining after the season that his ankle never felt fully recovered after tearing his Achilles during the 2023 season. Players coming back from significant injuries hasn’t scared Schneider in the past, including inking the likes of Luke Joeckel, Eddie Lacy and Ziggy Ansah, so it’s certainly possible the team could look past his 2024 struggles if they are comfortable with where he is in his recovery now.
Darnold is another former Vikings quarterback who could be on the table, but signing Darnold would require signing significant resources to a quarterback coming off what is by far a career year. Yes, it could work out great, or it could be the 2025 version of the New York Giants giving Daniel Jones a big contract after a lone season of something resembling competent quarterback play.
And committing significant resources in free agency is something that John Schneider simply hasn’t done much of during his time in Seattle. Sure, it’s certainly possible he could make a splash move if he feels his seat is getting warm, but he’s spent more than a decade sifting through the bargain bin in free agency, adding veterans on one-year contracts while looking to the draft for the future.
Field Gulls contributor John Tapia reviewed many of the options available to the Seahawks to replace Geno for 2025 in a separate post, but that post failed to include one name in particular who could fit much of what the Hawks are looking for. Specifically, there is a quarterback set to be available who has several seasons of success in the Shanahan wide zone system the Seahawks are set to run under Klint Kubiak, and who could be added out of the bargain bin in which John Schneider has traditionally shopped in free agency.
That quarterback is Jimmy Garoppolo.
In his lone start of the 2024 season, Garoppolo led a Los Angeles Rams offense that had seven starters, including three starters on the offensive line, on the inactive list, and went 27-41 for 334 yards with a pair of touchdowns and an interception. In short, playing behind an offensive line primarily made of backups, Garoppolo was able to move the ball up and down the field against Mike Macdonald’s defense for most of the game, even behind a low quality offensive line, as he executed Sean McVay’s offense with a high level of proficiency after spending more than five years running Kyle Shanahan’s system for the San Francisco 49ers.
So, while the NFL world awaits what Schneider and Macdonald do when free agency opens Monday, one name to keep in mind is that of a quarterback with a track record of success running the system the Seahawks are set run in 2025 and would provide the Seahawks affordable competence while giving whoever the Hawks add in the draft time to develop.