Potential future Seahawks quarterback has a rough look on social media

The Seattle Seahawks might need to take a quarterback early in the 2025 NFL draft. Not that Geno Smith is a bad quarterback because he isn't. Neither is backup Sam Howell. The issue is that Howell and Smith are only signed through 2025 currently and Seattle could theoretically lose both in the 2026 offseason. Making plans to eventually replace them is important, of course.

One thing that Smith and Howell seemingly have in common is that they are good teammates. Evidence for Smith being so came last season when he missed a couple of games with an injury but he could be seen on the sidelines cheering on his temporary replacement, Drew Lock, as if Lock would also be the starter and leader of the team. Smith helped set the culture offensively for the Seahawks and that was a good thing.

Howell was missed right away by some of his Washington Commanders teammates after being traded to Seattle this offseason. Commanders receiver Terry McLaurin effusively praised Howell after the quarterback was no longer on the team, for instance. That shows genuine respect for Howell as a player and a person.

Shedeur Sanders might not be the leader future Seahawks teams need

Being a quarterback in the NFL means naturally becoming a leader. While respecting coaches and following directions is extremely important, players should not only hold their coaches in high esteem but also their teammates because the locker room could lose faith in the quarterback if he is disrespectful of fellow players. A coach leads the team while a starting quarterback helps lead the players.

This is why when Colorado Buffalos quarterback, and son of Deion, Shedeur Sanders recently took to social media after a former Buffalo criticized Deion Sanders, Shedeur looked like a bad teammate. Sure, Xavier Smith, who had spoken with The Athletic (subscription required) at length about his time in Colorado after Deion was hired as the coach, was no longer with the team, but the Seahawks shouldn't want a quarterback saying things such as "I don't even remember him" about a former teammate. A leader should rise about such trivialities.

Another difference is that Shedeur's father is the coach of the Buffalos so maybe the situation is different when he gets to the NFL. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe Shedeur gets drafted and his father eventually becomes a coach on the team that takes Shedeur.

The complaint by Smith toward Deion was somewhat disheartening and there is some implication his opinion could be true. When Deion took over Colorado, he wanted to get rid of most of the team, and many left. An important part to note is that Deion's attitude might have been more acceptable if he had made such wholesale changes in the NFL as he would be dealing with grown men getting paid to play football. Instead, he was dealing with college kids still trying to find their way in life.

Smith said, "(Deion Sanders) was destroying guys’ confidence and belief in themselves. The way he did it, it could’ve been done with a little more compassion."

Deion told The Dan Patrick Show this past November that "maybe 20 kids we may have sat down with and said, ‘We may head in a different direction; I don’t know if this is gonna work out.’ Everybody else quit. They quit. You can’t hold me responsible."

What an outlandish thing to say. He was the head coach and therefore responsible for everything that went on with the program whether he wanted to take ownership or not. Deion said the Buffalos staff sat down with "20" players and advised them to leave. In all, 53 players left. That would imply that there was a direction or culture set by leadership - coaching leadership - that was not healthy.

On Tuesday, Shedeur Sanders took to X/Twitter and said of Smith, "Ion even remember him tbh. Bro had to be very mid at best."

Maybe Shedeur did not know Smith, who did hang around the program for a few months, but Deion told Shedeur that he shouldn't get to know most of his teammates. Maybe. That would give Shedeur an implication that he was better than his teammates. Based on what he said about Smith (who Shedeur said he did not know but yet still gave Smith a dig by saying Smith must have been "very mid"), that might be evidence that Shedeur does believe he is bigger than the team.

That won't work in the NFL. If Shedeur carried that kind of mentality from college to the Seahawks, his veteran teammates would likely have a stern conversation with him.

As far as the Seahawks potentially taking Shedeur Sanders, there is also a chance. He still has a year to play in college (at least) and too-early mock drafts have him being taken anywhere from number one overall to number 28. Shedeur does have a high football IQ but his arm talent is not elite. How his NFL career goes is unknown at this point, obviously, but his leadership skills remain in question.

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