The Seattle Seahawks already made a monster move last week when they traded for All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson from the Indianapolis Colts. That said, their Monday night loss to the Chicago Bears showed Seattle may have more holes that Nelson alone can't fill.
Their performance against the Bears was an all-around failure—on defense, offense, and special teams. As expected, Sam Darnold's regression this season is the biggest issue that has the Seahawks at 4-4, but he's not the only problem.
Nelson's addition was huge, but Darnold stood no chance against the Bears' pass rush, which means it may take a few games for Nelson and Grey Zabel to adapt to their positions. As for what Seattle does next, whether they should go all in with more big moves is a significant question mark. John Schneider, in any case, is keeping his eyes on the market.
Seattle Seahawks' GM John Schneider hints at further plans for another trade
After eight weeks, the biggest need for the Seahawks is at wide receiver, among others. Rashid Shaheed is injured, Cooper Kupp is hardly being used, and relying on Jaxon Smith-Njigba at the rate the Seahawks is likely to come back to haunt them later in the season.
The Seahawks could also benefit from a major boost at running back. Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet returned against the Bears, but Seattle's rushing attack produced just 73 yards between four running backs. Furthermore, while it's good news that Charbonnet is back, he's not a No. 1 rusher, and Price has battled injuries all season.
Schneider could likely make more improvements to make the Seahawks a team capable of repeating as champions, but whether he should go all in this season and risk the team's future under Mike Macdonald is another matter altogether. In any case, Schneider remains on the lookout, and said so on Monday.
“We’re still talking to several teams,” Schneider said on Seattle Radio Network before Monday nights game. “A lot of—actually the majority of the teams will wait until the very deadline… We talk about being able to improve your team all throughout the year and keeping your powder dry a little bit.”
Clearly, Schneider had been wading in the trade market waters before this past weekend, but the actual game may have furthered his desire to improve the Seahawks, and it likely did.
Schneider's problem is that the Seahawks are more than one player away from resembling last year's team, and that's after the move on Nelson. To acquire multiple players by next week's trade deadline, he would have to give up a lot. Schneider's biggest problem, though, isn't what Seattle lacks, but what they already have that isn't good enough: Darnold.
Don't expect Schneider to make a quarterback trade, especially since the Seahawks aren't likely to bench Darnold anytime soon, even though Drew Lock may be the better option right now.
Whatever Schneider does before the NFL's trade deadline on November 10, everything will still come down to Seattle's quarterback play; Darnold is their biggest red flag. Further trades might not move the needle if Darnold doesn't play significantly better. Perhaps Darnold will be Schneider's biggest offseason decision.
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