Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll once again confirmed the rumors that the team had an interest in selecting Patrick Mahomes during the 2017 NFL draft. The decision would have made waves around the league given Russell Wilson was still with the Seahawks. Heading into the team’s Week 16 matchup against the Chiefs on Christmas Eve, Carroll admitted that Seahawks general manager John Schneider “was all over” Mahomes as a quarterback he “really liked.”
“I know John really liked him,” Carroll explained during a press conference on December 21, 2022. “No, John was all over it. He had studied him hard. He knew what he could do. I don’t remember the circumstances now, but I know that going in John was really thrilled about this guy’s chances of being a great player. And it was always about the off-tempo plays that he did that were so extraordinary.
“Well, look at him now, and you could see that he had a range of abilities that most guys don’t have. And John had a really good feel for that. He was right on it.”
At the time, Wilson still had another three seasons remaining on his $87 million contract that ran through the 2019 season. After tense negotiations, Wilson eventually signed a four-year, $140 million contract extension during the 2019 offseason.
Ultimately, Mahomes was long gone by the time the Seahawks were on the clock with the No. 26 pick in the 2017 draft. Kansas City traded up with Buffalo from No. 27 to the No. 10 pick in order to select Mahomes. There is a touch of irony in the move as the Bills are now consistently battling the Chiefs each season to emerge as the AFC representative in the Super Bowl. As for the Seahawks, the team stayed on brand by trading down twice, eventually moving outside of the first round altogether.
The Seahawks’ Interest in Mahomes Angered Wilson’s Camp: Report
ESPN’s Brady Henderson reported that Seattle was prepared to use their first round selection on Mahomes in 2017. The Seahawks’ interest in Mahomes and other quarterbacks led Wilson’s camp to be “f****** pissed,” per Henderson.
“In the Spring of 2017, Seahawks general manager John Schneider was a conspicuous attendant at Patrick Mahomes’ pro day,” Henderson wrote on September 7. “The GM had become so enamored with the Texas Tech quarterback that Seattle would have taken him had he been available late in the first round, multiple team sources said. The massive gamble on an unproven quarterback would have carried an obvious benefit: flexibility to build the roster around a cheap rookie contract the way Seattle had done during Wilson’s first three seasons when the Seahawks won one Super Bowl and nearly a second.”
Seattle Could Add Another Quarterback to the Roster in 2023
Mahomes’ resume is impressive for any quarterback, let alone a star that is just 27 years old. The quarterback is a four-time Pro Bowler, 2018 NFL MVP, a Super Bowl champion and Super Bowl MVP. The Chiefs superstar’s best season came in 2018 when Mahomes threw for 5,097 yards, 50 touchdowns and 12 interceptions while completing 66% of his passes in 16 starts.
The Mahomes narrative is not just interesting from the possible tension the Seahawks were willing to create by adding the quarterback to the team’s roster with Wilson. It also hints at a potential pathway moving forward to what the Seahawks will do at the position in the future.
Schneider learned under former Packers GM Ron Wolf who was a proponent of drafting a quarterback each year. Seattle could look to not only re-sign Geno Smith this offseason and select a quarterback in the draft if the front office is intrigued by a particular prospect. The Seahawks are projected to hold a top-three pick in 2023 via the Broncos as part of the blockbuster Wilson trade from last offseason.
