Seahawks trade history: 2018-2023
24 trades in a little over 5 years: Seaside Joe 1604
On Saturday, I wrote what the details of a Chris Jones trade proposal could look like if the Seattle Seahawks wanted to get a little dangerous before the 2023 season, and that article has generated a lot of interest and comments already. It’s not that I think the Kansas City Chiefs will trade Jones (I don’t think they will) or that the Seahawks will be overjoyed to give up draft picks and over $100 million to acquire Jones (I don’t think they will), but I do think that big teams often make big moves.
I saw a little sentiment on Twitter that Seattle must already have “too many high-priced players” to add someone like Jones. I would remind fans that the Seahawks biggest obstacle, the San Francisco 49ers, have Trent Williams, George Kittle, Javon Hargrave, Charvarius Ward, Deebo Samuel, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, and Arik Armstead on big contracts, with Nick Bosa making $18 million this season on the fifth-year option.
And actually Trey Lance makes barely less money this season than Geno Smith.
Comparing the 49ers top nine players to Seattle’s by contract (Jamal Adams, Quandre Diggs, DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, Dre’Mont Jones, Geno, Bobby Wagner, Uchenna Nwosu, Will Dissly) it’s not even close. Then you look at those nine players, how many of them are guaranteed to be on the 2024 roster? Two or three?
Or compare to a Philadelphia Eagles team that has done an incredible job of adding veteran talent to the roster and spreading out their cap hits over multiple seasons just right so that they can fit them together and boast an NFC favorite as we head into training camp.
Don’t consider this as me strongly advocating for the Seahawks to sacrifice immense future draft capital and cap space to acquire Chris Jones or anybody else. That’s not my intention. But I do get annoyed when fans assume that something isn’t possible because it doesn’t “seem” like it’s possible. Acquiring an elite and expensive talent, using Jones as an example, may not suit you and that’s PERFECTLY OKAY to feel that way. I do think that the Seahawks have fallen behind in what was once routinely cited as “the NFC West arms race” offseason after offseason, now expanded to include the Eagles, at least. But that doesn’t mean that the solution is to necessarily jump right back into the fray for the sake of it, several years after giving up two first round picks for Adams.
However, I did see another tweet about the trade—and don’t get me wrong, it’s a joke tweet and I’m not taking it seriously—suggesting that the Seahawks should not trade for anyone ever again…
This again falls back to the cynical view point that “ah every time the Seahawks trade for someone, it’s the same as when they traded for Jamal Adams or Jimmy Graham or Percy Harvin!”
I think that the Seahawks have lost more trades than they’d like to have lost. But what about Marshawn Lynch, Chris Clemons, Leon Washington, or Clinton McDonald? They all helped Seattle get reset after Pete Carroll’s arrival and three were integral to the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl win.
Pop Quiz Hotshot: Who was the first player traded by Pete Carroll as head coach of the Seahawks in 2010? Answer revealed at the bottom of the post
I’m a research guy, so I always like to know the facts as well as possible without making assumptions of how things “seem”, so I figured today would be a good day to just lay out some facts and then let opinions on the value of trades (especially recent ones) fall on you, however you think the total outcome was worth it or not. I’ll use StatHead.com to address every trade involving a veteran player and every trade UP in the draft by the Seahawks, dating back to 2018.
Seahawks report to training camp in: 2 days!!!
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Seahawks trades (with players involved)
2022
-QB Russell Wilson, 2022 4th round pick to Broncos for 2022 1st, 2nd, and 5th round picks, 2023 1st, 2nd round picks, QB Drew Lock, DE Shelby Harris, TE Noah Fant
-CB Ugo Amadi to Eagles for WR JJ Arcega-Whiteside
2021
-2021 5th round pick to Raiders for G Gabe Jackson
-2023 conditional pick (not conveyed) to Texans for CB John Reid
-2022 6th round pick to Jaguars for CB Sidney Jones
-CB Ahkello Witherspoon to Steelers for 2023 5th round pick (DE Mike Morris)
2020
-2020 5th round pick to Moons for CB Quinton Dunbar
-2021 1st, 3rd round picks, 2022 1st round pick, S Bradley McDougald to Jets for S Jamal Adams, 2022 4th round pick
-2021 7th round pick, C B.J. Finney to Bengals for DE Carlos Dunlap
2019
-DE Frank Clark, 2019 3rd round pick to Chiefs for 2019 1st round pick, 2019 3rd round pick, 2020 2nd round pick
-2020 7th round pick to Patriots for TE Jacob Hollister
-2021 conditional pick (not conveyed) to Jets for CB Parry Nickerson
-2020 3rd round pick, OLB Jacob Martin, OLB Bark Mingo to Texans for Jadeveon Clowney
-TE Nick Vannett to Steelers for 2020 5th round pick
2018
-DE Michael Bennett, 2018 7th round pick to Eagles for WR Marcus Johnson, 2018 5th round pick
-2019 6th round pick to Packers for QB Brett Hundley
-WR Marcus Johnson to Colts for TE Darrell Daniels
-2019 7th round pick to Raiders for S Shalom Luani
Seahawks trade ups (draft picks only)
Trading down is a little less intriguing or revealing because it only tells you that the Seahawks weren’t in a “gotta have him” position with any one prospect when they got an offer to let a team move up. It’s a “gotta have him” moment though when the Seahawks decide to trade up.
2023
None
2022
None
2021
-Traded picks 217, 250 to move up for OT Stone Forsythe at 208
2020
-Traded picks 59, 101 to move up for OLB Darrell Taylor at 48
-Traded 2021 6th round pick to Dolphins for TE Stephen Sullivan at 251
2019
-Traded picks 77, 118 to move up for WR DK Metcalf at 64
-Traded picks 92, 159 to move up for LB Cody Barton at 88 (also received 209, used on Demarcus Christmas)
2018
-Traded picks 156, 226 to move up for P Michael Dickson at 149
Interesting wrinkle to add here is that the Seahawks traded their 2021 sixth round pick because they wanted Sullivan with one of the final picks in the 2020 draft, but then they traded up to get that same pick back when they wanted Forsythe in 2021. It had also traded hands one other time between those two trades.
Answer: No, it wasn’t Darryl Tapp! Eight days before that, the Seahawks traded Seneca Wallace to the Cleveland Browns for a 2011 seventh round pick. Seattle eventually used it in a seven-pick trade with the Lions when Detroit wanted to move up for RB Mikel Leshoure in the second round. One of the other picks involved in that trade: #154 used on Richard Sherman
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I stubbed my toe once...I will Never walk again!
I got turned down on a date once...I will Never ask someone out again!
I got cold once...I will Always wear a coat!
I bought a LOTTO ticket once...Nobody ever wins those!
OR
There are examples of my Team stubbing their toe on Free Agency/Trade/Draft, etc. and it does not always work out...I hope they Never try to get better again.
Or Really, the statement we have heard numerous times by our team's brass - 'Always Compete'. Yes, I much prefer to have 'my' team to be Always Competing. Ignore what I was saying above.
I’d forgotten about a bunch of the trades. Some of which were steals by the Seahawks. Like getting a 5th round pick for Nick Vannet. Getting anything for him was a huge accomplishment.