Seahawks should take trade offer that includes future first round picks

I'm ready, I know what Seattle should do with the 5th overall pick in 2023: 4/4/2023

Going into the NFL Draft this year, you will continue to read a lot of arguments that somehow connect back to the Kansas City Chiefs’ acquisition of Patrick Mahomes in 2017. “Trade up if you love a quarterback, do anything you can to get him.” “I liken this to the Alex Smith model, having a bridge starter in place while you develop the first round pick.” “I got an idea: Why not have a QB who is a two-time MVP and two-time Super Bowl-winner in his first six seasons? I bet that could help a team win a Super Bowl!”

Well, I’m not going to argue against any of that. To leave no doubt, I am pro-Patrick Mahomes.

I would say that I go above-and-beyond the normal amount of adoration for the importance of the quarterback position, saying many times that I believe football is essentially an INDIVIDUAL SPORT wrapped inside of a TEAM SPORT. I don’t follow baseball anymore, but I’m aware of Shohei Ohtani, the Angels hitter/pitcher who could legitimately be the best of both worlds and to make an analogy off of him:

Playing QB at an elite level is sort of like being Shohei Ohtani, if you pitched literally every game.

I know, quarterbacks don’t play defense, it’s a fair point. But I wonder how many total teammates Tom Brady had over the course of every Super Bowl season combined. I wonder how many Mahomes has already played with through the course of the most dominant first-five-seasons-as-starter stretch in NFL history. The Chiefs have turned over almost the entire roster and coaching staff from Mahomes’ 2018 MVP season to Mahomes’ 2022 MVP season.

If the Seattle Seahawks find themselves to be in Kansas City’s position in the 2023 NFL Draft, sitting in a position where they feel they can move up for a franchise-changing quarterback then I say by all means, go do that.

But you know which team we don’t talk about when we talk about the Chiefs trading up for Mahomes? The team that traded down 17 spots in the first round of the 2017 draft to faciliate that deal. A team that might have the second-best quarterback in the AFC, even if they don’t have Mahomes. I bet if you asked 100 die-hard NFL fans who that team is, at least 80 wouldn’t know.

The Buffalo Bills somehow managed to miss out on Patrick Mahomes and still be in contention against him in the playoffs every year.

Coming off of a 7-9 season after firing head coach Rex Ryan and general manager Doug Whaley, the Bills opted for patience over replacements when resetting the roster with Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane. Tyrod Taylor was a mediocre-yet-serviceable starting quarterback and adding Mahomes or Deshaun Watson would have made all the sense in the world. However, Buffalo had a mediocre team and they knew it.

Acceptance is more than half of the battle. Are you truly “a quarterback” away?

When Mahomes was still available at pick #10, the Bills agreed to essentially move out of position for any of the top-ranked prospects in order to acqurie a late third round pick and a future first round pick. This is not a small risk, it was safe to assume that Kansas City would be a playoff team again and return a first rounder in the 20s. But the Bills probably knew that since they weren’t going to draft a QB, the position players were not ranked dramatically different on their big board from 10 to 27, so they could get a player who they really liked and add future draft capital.

Buffalo selected cornerback Tre’Davious White, a two-time All-Pro who led the NFL in interceptions in 2019, albeit a player who has suffered too many injuries of late. They used the third rounder to trade up for receiver Zay Jones at #37. And in 2018, they had two first round picks because of the trade (#12, #22) and felt the timing was right for a quarterback, so they flexed their capital by moving up to#7 to select Josh Allen.

With their other first round pick still retained, the Bills flexed again and traded up for two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

There was a time for the Bills to trade up. There was also a time for the Bills to trade down. They executed their timing flawlessly and though they will live with regrets for how these last three seasons ended in the playoffs, Buffalo didn’t end up losing out on a franchise quarterback just because they lost out on a franchise quarterback. They got Allen and White and Edmunds.

Unless you know you have a franchise QB already, teams should know going into the draft, “Are we the 2017 Chiefs or the 2017 Bills?” Both came out looking really good from their decisions that year. You don’t HAVE TO be the Chiefs. You can be the Bills!

So here we are almost three weeks until the 2023 NFL Draft, the Seahawks have the fifth overall pick, and we’ve had a lot of time to think about the options that could be and probably will be available when Seattle is on the clock for the first time. As with most big decisions, there’s usually a time when it clicks for me and I know what I’ve decided, “This is what I would do, this might make sense for the Seahawks…” and this week I had the *click* with the fifth overall pick.

I personally don’t like what this draft class will probably to offer at the fifth overall pick. The elite defensive tackle with character issues who hasn’t been testing. The Big-12 edge rusher who is too old and hasn’t been testing. Quarterbacks who can’t ‘quarterback’ yet. You want a Ja’Marr Chase at receiver, a Sauce Gardner at corner, or a Micah Parsons at linebacker? This ain’t your year. Not even at #5!

I believe that if you were to rank every top-10 prospect board of the last 10 years, the 2023 class might come out in the 10th or 20th percentile. Therefore, I think that even though we don’t know yet how the 2024 first round class will measure up, the odds measured against 2023 imply an improvement and the early looks are very good.

What does that mean? It means that if the board falls as I would expect (it might not), the Seahawks could get some tempting offers to trade down for a draft picks package that does include at least a 2024 first round pick. And guess what: I’ve found the perfect trade partner.

A team that desperately needs a QB, could have connections to that quarterback at FOUR levels (HC, OC, GM, asst. GM), is in “We need a star” mode at levels rarely seen, has a GM with strong trade ties to John Schneider, and if Seattle can pull this off not only do I think does the 2024 first round pick have the potential to be even higher than fifth overall…I have a plan that could still end up with the Seahawks getting their highest rated player on the board!

I mean, I already thought Seaside Joe was good. I may have even said Seaside Joe is great. Now, I know: Seaside Joe is the greatest of all-time.

It’s amazing that the rest of the Seahawks media continues to ignore us and keep us off of their podcasts and websites, but I’ll guarantee you two things by the time you’re done reading these trade proposals: A) They will make a ton of sense and are well-researched/defended, B) Even though the chances are it won’t happen, I know you will be entertained, enthralled, and enlightened.

Two trades. One top-ranked prospect in 2023. Two first round picks in 2024. They want the Seahawks to be like the Chiefs. Maybe it’s better for the Seahawks to be like the Bills.

Onto my final call on what I want and think the Seahawks should do with their fifth overall pick, if they get this option…