'I'll be surprised if Seahawks don't draft a QB'

The Seahawks don't go near QBs in the draft, but will that change in 2025?

I write about this every year, but I’ll say it again:

If you ranked all 32 teams by their historical investments in the quarterback position, the Seattle Seahawks would rank dead last and they wouldn’t be able to see the team in 31st place with the James Webb Telescope.

Case in point:

Almost every Seahawks fan reading this can name the only two quarterbacks that the franchise has ever drafted the first two rounds over the past 49 years: Rick Mirer and Dan McGwire. Those two combined for less than 10,000 career passing yards (9,094 by Mirer), 43 touchdowns (41 by Mirer), and 62 interceptions (56 by Mirer).

In addition, the Seahawks traded a first and two fifths for Kelly Stouffer (not to be confused with Kelly Stafford) a year after he refused to play for the Cardinals after they made him the sixth overall pick. Turning down the Cardinals would be the last and only good move that Stouffer made in the NFL.

Remarkably, Russell Wilson is the third-highest drafted QB in franchise history:

• Rick Mirer, 2nd overalll

• Dan McGwire, 16th overall

• Russell Wilson, 75th overall

• Brock Huard, 77th overall

• David Greene, 85th overall

Is the 50th time a charm?

‘I’ll be surprised if Seahawks don’t draft a QB’

The Athletic’s Dane Brugler is probably as good at the draft analyst job as anyone else and on this week’s episode of that website’s podcast he specifically highlighted Seattle as a team that will target a quarterback.

Normally I would talk about why this is unlikely, but since the focus here is finally where it should be — the Seahawks taking a flier on a QB after the first round — and it’s Brugler, I’ll share that quote…which I’ve queued up here:

The emphasis here should be on how BAD this quarterback class is and how improbable it is that Seattle will find the next Wilson, even if it is long overdue for John Schneider to at least try. I’ve been pleaing for the Seahawks to give it a shot since last year.

Just remember that for every Wilson, there’s a David Greene (never made an appearance in an NFL game, was cut after one season) and a Brock Huard (has spent more time competing with people like me than he did in the NFL) and a Steve Myer (the sixth-highest drafted QB in franchise history).

If the Seahawks draft Tyler Shough in the third round, is he really a better prospect than Sam Howell? Or just an older one? (Howell is 24 and Shough is 25.)

To emphasize just how bad this class really is, here are the six who made Brugler’s top-100, which includes none in the top-10, one in the top-20, and two in the top-50:

15. Cam Ward, Miami

25. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

57. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

59. Tyler Shough, Louisville

61. Jalen Milroe, Alabama

84. Will Howard, Ohio State

This is not necessarily a negative but nonetheless an interesting sign of the times: Milroe is the only QB of the six who never transferred schools. Ward played for three different teams and Shough, who used to backup Justin Herbert at Oregon, played for three teams over seven(!) years.

Jayden Daniels transferred to LSU and Bo Nix transferred to Oregon, seemingly boosting their stats going into the draft, but both had varying levels of success in the NFL during their rookie seasons. Daniels was also on a whole other level as a prospect as any QB in the 2025 class and Nix, the sixth QB taken last year, might be the top-ranked player at the position if he was in the 2025 class*.

*From my still pretty uninformed, developing opinion on the 2025 class, but just observing what I’ve heard and seen so far

Question everything and believe no one

Over the next two and a half months, the Seahawks will frequently be connected to the quarterbacks who are ranked below Ward and Sanders — just as they were in 2022, just as they were in 2023, and just as they were in 2024 — and maybe unlike the last three years one of their picks will actually be a quarterback.

• The Seahawks have not picked a QB since selecting Alex McGough with their last pick in 2018, that was 50 picks ago

• The Seahawks have made 115 draft picks since taking Wilson in 2012 and McGough is the only QB among them

You will hear and read hopeful and overly optimistic opinions about the 2025 QB prospects, whether it’s the four others listed above or the ones who didn’t make Brugler’s top-100 like: Quinn Ewers, Dillon Gabriel, Kyle McCord, Riley Leonard, Kurtis Rourke, and so on, but nothing about those players will actually change from what their scouting reports said about them in December.

Unless it is a concerning medical revelation at the combine, which obviously would not be good.

However, the media will report that some of them “blew teams away” at the combine in their interviews; that they “threw the most beautiful 50-yard bombs” at their pro days; and “are moving up the boards” in days before the draft. Sure, you remember…Malik Willis and Desmond Ridder were Seahawks in 2022, Will Levis was a Seahawk in 2023, and Michael Penix was a Seahawk in 2024.

Geez, the Seahawks have the most crowded quarterback room in the NFL!

Of course, when Seattle drafted Wilson, I didn’t think that he would become a starter let alone turn into “Russell Wilson”. When the 2022 class came and went in April of that year, there was no expectation that Brock Purdy would throw as many career touchdowns as the rest of the quarterbacks taken that year combined.

We love the draft for all of the things that we expect to happen, like Jayden Daniels being really good, and also for all of the surprises.

I should not really expect the Seahawks to draft a quarterback based on their consistent history of avoiding them, but we’re overdue for Seattle to give patient fans a pleasant surprise.

Seaside Joe 2174