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Seahawks GM/President Of Football Operations John Schneider Talks Sam Howell Trade & Free Agent Additions On Seattle Sports 710AM

Seahawks general manager and president football of operations John Schneider addressed some of the moves his team has made this week during his appearance on Seattle Sports 710AM.

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The Seahawks have been busy in recent days, signing several free agents and agreeing to a trade with Washington for quarterback Sam Howell. Not long after agreeing to that trade, Seahawks general manager/president football of operations, John Schneider joined Seattle Sports 710AM for his regular offseason appearance with Dave Wyman and Bob Stelton to discuss the moves.

Here is what Schneider had to say about some of the moves the Seahawks has made this week:

On the trade to acquire Sam Howell: "We were kind of sweating that this morning talking to the Commanders and Adam Peters, their general manager. We were sweating that out, there were several teams involved with it. Sam's a football player, I think that's the best way to describe it. I know everybody saw him play out here, he had a great day against us this past fall. He's a quarterback, but he's really a football player, that's what I love about him. Really tough, young, he's 23 years old and has 18 starts in the league already. He's the same age as (Jayden) Daniels from LSU, (Spencer) Rattler, and (Michael) Penix, and he's a year younger than Bo Nix. We're just really excited to be able to acquire him. We know he's a serious dude, he's into it, he works his tail off, we got great reviews on him, and we loved him coming out of college. We're happy to get him in the mix. Geno is the guy, and Sam will be backing him up."

Schneider noted the performance had in the Commanders' 2023 loss in Seattle made an impression on the Seahawks, saying, "The game he played here, it hit home how tough he was, how strong he was, keeping his eyes down field, finding the open receiver, and almost winning the game there at the end. He's young, he's smart, he's tough. He's just a football player. I keep going back to that, but it's a legit thing."

Asked further about his comment that Howell will be Smith's backup, Schneider added, "Well I'm sure there's competition, but it's not like we're signing him to go and compete with Geno to be the starter. But he's going to be giving it a run, he's a competitive guy."

On re-signing DE Leonard Williams: "He's a great fit for (Mike Macdonald's) defense. He can play from the zero (technique) to the three to the five. He can move him around. We were a little nervous there for a minute, the defensive tackle market was exactly what people said at the combine, and actually a little higher. We hung in there, his agents did a great job of working with us. Leonard was in Bali and flew all the way out here to sign his contract. He was obviously our priority, we gave up a second-round pick for him last year, so that was very important. Just thrilled to get him back in the building."

On re-signing TE Noah Fant and the addition of TE Pharaoh Brown: "(Fant) can be a special threat as a tight end in the passing game, so pairing him with Pharaoh Brown—Pharaoh in our opinion is one of the top two or three blocking tight ends in the National Football League, he brings a nastiness to us—so those two guys' skillsets are going to be really nice. Those two guys working together is going to be a great fit."

Asked more about Brown, Schneider added, "He's a guy that can take care of the C-gap, he can block down, he's nasty. He's going to bring a toughness to our offense. He's a tempo-setter. He's a little bit of an old soul that way. He's going to fight you and not back down, and I think that's going to rub off on our offensive identity."

On signing OT George Fant: "He did a really nice job last year down in Houston. He can play left tackle, he can play right tackle, he's played a little guard in the past. We know him very well, obviously. He's a great guy, he was really excited to be back in the building, it was great to see his smiling face today. He's a great competitor and a really good dude. It was pretty neat to see him hugging all the people in the building that he's missed over the years. So he was excited to get back. His role will be as a utility offensive tackle."

On signing S Rayshawn Jenkins: "He played a lot of one-high this year for them, then played down in the box as well. He's been known more as a strong safety, but really aggressive, he was the second guy to wear the dot (signifying the defensive play-caller) if a linebacker left the game, he would have been able to call it for them. A smart football player. We'll play probably more two-high or split safeties this year, and he has the ability to do both. He's an extremely disruptive player, we loved him out of college. He was college teammates with Artie Burns, then we've watched him with the Chargers and with Jacksonville. He came here and visited, and was down San Francsico, so thank God for those California state taxes, right?"

The Seahawks agreed to terms with tight end Pharaoh Brown to a one-year contract on March 13, 2024. Brown signed with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Oregon following the 2017 NFL Draft and has spent time with the Browns, Texans and most recently the New England Patriots.

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