Pete Carroll on Seahawks' Interest in Adding QB: 'I Don’t See Us Making a Trade'

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Since trading Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos this offseason, the top question mark for the Seattle Seahawks has been the quarterback position, with Drew Lock and Geno Smith currently the top two options. 

The Seahawks didn't address quarterback at the draft, leading to the question of whether they might consider adding a veteran like Baker Mayfield or Jimmy Garoppolo via trade.

Don't count on it.

"I don't see us making a trade for anybody at all," head coach Pete Carroll told reporters on Thursday. "I don't see that happening."

After trading Wilson and cutting veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner, the Seahawks may be fine with a resetting season, one that could lead to a top-five pick in next year's draft. Such a rebuild could give them a year to evaluate Lock as a player while leaving them in position to potentially draft a top quarterback like Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud, among others.

Lock, 25, never did enough to convince the Broncos he was a long-term solution at quarterback, and it seems unlikely he'll do so in Seattle. In 24 career games (21 starts) across three seasons, he's thrown for 4,740 yards, 25 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, completing just 59.3 percent of his passes. He's been sacked 33 times. 

But Lock is also younger than Mayfield (27) and far cheaper (it's very hard to imagine two divisional rivals like the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers agreeing on a Garoppolo trade, though more unlikely things have happened). While Lock will make just $1.4 million next season before becoming an unrestricted free agent, Mayfield is set to make $18.9 million before hitting unrestricted free agency. 

Mayfield would be an upgrade, but enough of one to get Seattle into playoff contention? Probably not. Seattle's thinking might be pretty simple here: Why pay more to likely miss the playoffs anyway?

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And Carroll, for what it's worth, has publicly said that he believes in Lock's upside. 

"You go back to his first year when he was balling as a rookie, when he was 4-1, his third-down numbers were terrific," he told reporters. "Taking care of the football really well. For whatever reason... the coordinator left after that time, times changed for him, and he didn't play to that same level. ... We think he's still that guy [from early in his career] and so we'll see."

Lock will have to win the job over Geno Smith and Jacob Eason. Regardless of that outcome, though, the Seahawks may be better off in the short term with their current options given the likelihood they won't be terribly good anyway.