Seahawks may wait until 2023 to make a move at quarterback

This is the first time in a long time that the Seattle Seahawks have a big question mark at the quarterback position. Russell Wilson is now in Denver and the decision as to who will replace him will come down to Geno Smith and Drew Lock.

Pete Carroll remains adamant that the competition is locked down between Smith and Lock, but fans continue to be skeptical, as they should be. For one, Carroll said that the Seahawks had “no intention” to trade Wilson just two weeks before they ended up doing so.

On the other hand, Smith and Lock are decent backups but they are not long-term starters in the NFL. They also each have one-year deals remaining with the Seahawks.

Despite Carroll’s comments, there is reason to believe that the Seahawks will explore new options at quarterback in 2023.

Seahawks will look to the 2023 NFL Draft for a QB

The main reason to think this is considering Carroll’s annual draft clues that he posts on Twitter leading up to the NFL Draft. This year, his first draft clue was “Next Year” by Macklemore.

Some initially thought that meant the Seahawks wouldn’t make a first-round pick until next year, while instead opting to trade down. However, they ended up drafting tackle Charles Cross with the ninth overall pick.

Rather, “Next Year” could simply mean that Seattle is waiting to take a quarterback until the 2023 NFL Draft, which offers a significantly better quarterback class than 2022 did. The Seahawks will have the opportunity to evaluate prospects such as Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, and Kentucky’s Will Levis.

Young and Stroud are already two highly coveted QB prospects who are expected to go quite early in next year’s draft.

If predictions are accurate in Seattle having a poor season, they may be in a comfortable range to select either prospect early on. However, if they perform better than expected, they still have plenty of draft pick real estate to make a move up the draft board.