NFL Draft: Are the Seahawks Past the Richard Sherman Trade Talk?
By Ben Renner
The NFL Draft is in two days, creating an urgency for teams to improve. The Seahawks appear to be over their trade Richard Sherman saga, or are they?
I thought the NFL Draft would be a welcome distraction from the trade rumors swirling around All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman. Then Monday happened. Entering Draft Week, Seahawks General Manager John Schneider said he has “kind of moved past” the prospect of trading Sherman. Everyone took a deep breath as soon as reports trickled out of Seattle that Schneider and company weren’t actively shopping Sherman, but I’m not so sure they’re above moving him.
I’m firmly in the “don’t trade Sherm” camp, but, like a smart General Manager (read: please hire me, any team!), I’m not against moving him if a desperate team makes an offer the Seahawks can’t refuse.
Schneider appeared to play it cool with reporters yesterday, but one remark stood out to me:
"If somebody calls and goes crazy with something, we’ll discuss it again. At this point . . . I don’t mean, ‘Go crazy,’ but you know what I mean — if somebody gives you compensation where you truly have to consider it, then we’d consider it."
I found that gem of a quote while perusing the great Art Thiel’s article, which first raised my hackles about a still-possible Sherman trade when the NFL Draft begins on Thursday.
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Schneider said he’ll listen to a trade offer if another team “goes crazy.” Plenty of teams go crazy on NFL Draft Day trying to move up, move down, acquire draft capital, and make the right decision when they’re on the clock. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a team makes a play for Sherman by offering the Seahawks a draft pick or two. Would you turn up your nose at two first round picks for the 29-year-old Sherman? It would be a tough call for any General Manager.
Thiel seems to think Schneider’s ambiguous remarks yesterday are some kind of marketing ploy to show that the Seahawks aren’t too willing to part with their All-Pro corner, thus keeping the price for his services high. Schneider could have been testing the market with his public remarks all along, and he could be wagging his finger at Sherman, warning him with trade rumors that he can’t scream at coaches in public anymore. We’ll never know what his strategy was with his public remarks about Sherman this offseason.
And we won’t see the end of this weird saga until after the NFL Draft, and even then we might not hear the end of it. There are many variables to consider when 31 NFL teams could use the best cornerback in the league on their roster. There’s no telling who might pony up the high price to acquire Sherman, but it appears that if the right offer comes along on NFL Draft Day amidst the chaos, Schneider is willing to pull the trigger.
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I thought it unlikely that a team will pay a huge price for Sherman, but during the NFL Draft, crazy things can happen. Sherman at least adds intrigue for the Seahawks in the first round while we wait for the 26th pick.