Seattle Seahawks trade for new #2 quarterback, Brett Hundley

Unhappy with their depth at quarterback, the Seattle Seahawks acquired Brett Hundley from Green Bay for a 2019 6th round draft pick.

The Seattle Seahawks were faced with the prospect of playing the 2018 season with either Austin Davis or Alex McGough backing up franchise quarterback Russell Wilson. Neither of them impressed the coaching staff enough during the preseason to make that a viable option. Instead, Seahawks General Manager John Schneider made a trade with Green Bay to bring in Brett Hundley as his number two signal caller.

Good but not good enough

Davis, a nine-year NFL veteran, had been good, but unspectacular, through his first three preseason games of 2018. He completed 14 of 19 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown. In his final chance to impress, the Southern Miss alum went 10 of 16 for 123 yards and a TD pass.

He hit Damore’ea Stringfellow in stride. over a defender, 30 yards down the right side which the wide receiver took to the house for an 81-yard score. The performance was enough to keep Davis on the payroll, but not the active roster. Seattle placed him on injured reserve when they cut the roster down to 53 players on Saturday night.

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McGough was selected in the seventh round of this year’s draft. He was the first quarterback Seattle drafted since selected Russell Wilson in 2012. A workhorse for the Seahawks through the preseason, he completed 36 of 62 (58.1%) for 416 yards with 3 TD passes and one interception. Against the Raiders “B-team” Thursday night, he wasn’t quite as productive as he had been in the previous three games. That led to his dismissal.

TNG – The new guy

Entering the 2015 college football season, UCLA quarterback Brett Hundley received early Heisman Trophy consideration. Unfortunately, back-to-back losses against Utah and Oregon in October derailed his candidacy. He left after the season (as a junior) to enter the NFL draft. The Chandler, AZ native finished with some impressive college stats. As a three year starter, he threw for 9966 yards, completing 67.6% of his passes (837 for 1241) with 75 TD passes against 25 INTs. Hundley also gained 1747 yards on the ground.

Drafted in the fifth round by Green Bay (147th overall), Hundley had something to prove. In his first camp with the Pack, he showed some flashes of his college form, but not enough to unseat Scott Tolzen as Aaron Rodgers‘ back up.

Hundley appeared in four games in 2016, completing a dismal two of 10 passing attempts. In 2017, the six-foot, three-inch, QB finally got his big chance. Hundley started nine games in place of an injured Rodgers. Needless to say, it didn’t work out well for him. He went 3-6 as the number one and Green Bay went from a hot 5-1 start to finishing the season at 7-9, good for third place in the NFC Central division.

Due to Hundley’s poor 2017, this past offseason, the Packers traded for Deshawn Keizer of Cleveland. He still had a shot to keep his job and played reasonably well in the 2018 preseason. Completing 23 of 37 for 263 yards including a TD and a pick kept him in the mix during training camp. Ultimately, Green Bay decided to move on and sent Hundley to Seattle.

In a classy move, Hundley sent a parting tweet to the Packers thanking them for their support.

By trading for Hundley, the Seattle Seahawks have received a young quarterback with starting experience and plenty of mileage left in his right arm. His former head coach Mike McCarthy said the former fifth-round pick wasn’t ready to step into the spotlight last year. Some time with Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer could get him ready to seize his opportunity should Wilson go down.

The Seahawks made a pair of trades on Saturday. They acquired former Washington Husky tight end Darrell Daniels from Indianapolis in exchange for Marcus Johnson. Additionally, they acquired defensive back and former Washington State Cougars player Shalom Luani from Oakland. Terms were not disclosed.