HC Mike MacDonald on QB Competition

[kidhawk]

The only thing that has changed is for people who tried to read the tea leaves, and insisted that not naming Geno as the starter earlier was somehow significant.

I just don’t see a difference between then and now. If he is the starter today then realistically he was the starter all along unless they had another plan that fell through.

Personally I think Geno should be our starter until someone dethrones him but the timing of the two statements is just strange.

My position on the qb position since Pete was fired has been that we should keep Geno until we can build the base of this team and draft a replacement along the way. Howell doesn’t change that for me.

 

[xray]

Smith should be pushed hard ; all through preseason ; and let's just see wtf we have in the QB room . Don't anoint Smith this early . imo

 

[xray]

" Salary Justification "

 

[Spin Doctor]

I'm curious about something here. Mike MacDonald was playing coy about the status of Geno Smith as a starter earlier in the year. Now all of the sudden he is named undisputed starter. The trade for Howell is even more confusing, I'm wondering if they had something lined up that fell through. Every month it feels like they're flipping back and forth on the status of Geno Smith.

 

[BlueTalon]

I just don’t see a difference between then and now. If he is the starter today then realistically he was the starter all along unless they had another plan that fell through.

The difference between then and now is that that was then and this is now. Then, the coaching staff was brand new to the Seahawks organization; now, they've had a chance to get the lay of the land, see some film, etc.

 

[chris98251]

Geno is the starter, Howell needs some work to unlearn some traits he picked up being in the Kill Sam drills almost all season, Geno is the leader on offense and you need that starting out in a new regime as well, the players follow and trust him. The support from John and Mac naming him starter right away reflects the no distractions of a QB controversy as well. Geno is on a pretty friendly contract, Sam gets a chance to learn the offense with no pressure on him, it's all on Geno.

 

[Jville]

Odd that a month ago we restructured Geno but he wouldn’t anoint him the starter, even though we had no other QB competition in the roster. Then we trade for Howell and suddenly Geno is the starter and Howell is the backup. Makes me wonder what went wrong. Did John put his foot down? Did they take a shot at a different QB and lose out? Did Geno find pics of Macdonald in a compromising position? Is Howell THAT bad? What has changed?

Chronological events explain it to me. No commitment to starter prior to Locks departure. Two quarterbacks on hand to chose from with team familiarity.

Post Lock's departure, only one QB with team experience ... Geno is named the starter. The new guy Sam is will play catch up as he becomes familiar with his new team. Makes sense that he starts as the primary back up.

Seems rather straight forward to me.

 

[BlueTalon]

I'm curious about something here. Mike MacDonald was playing coy about the status of Geno Smith as a starter earlier in the year. Now all of the sudden he is named undisputed starter. The trade for Howell is even more confusing, I'm wondering if they had something lined up that fell through. Every month it feels like they're flipping back and forth on the status of Geno Smith.

Man, you guys are way overthinking this. MM wasn't "playing coy", he was simply not getting too far over his skis until had a chance to assess everything. Now, naming Geno the starter makes sense given his experience and abilities, but he didn't do it in absolute terms. He didn't say that Geno's going to be the starter no matter what, or anything like that. If he gets outplayed in camp, then they might go with whoever outplayed him. You're inferring a lot from things that weren't said.

 

[Maelstrom787]

I'm curious about something here. Mike MacDonald was playing coy about the status of Geno Smith as a starter earlier in the year. Now all of the sudden he is named undisputed starter. The trade for Howell is even more confusing, I'm wondering if they had something lined up that fell through. Every month it feels like they're flipping back and forth on the status of Geno Smith.

Seems more to me like speculation is running rampant on the status of Geno Smith than anything else.

There hasn't been much back and forth. There was "we're evaluating everything" and then there was "he's the starter." That's just a natural progression, to me.

I also don't think this impacts the Howell trade. Dude needs a year or two, clearly. Having a developmental prospect is old-school prudent rostering. I definitely would've rather they just drafted him in 2022.. but I suppose that's water under the bridge.

Geno's on a short-term contract. It makes sense to try to identify a succession plan.

 

[Maelstrom787]

I just don’t see a difference between then and now. If he is the starter today then realistically he was the starter all along unless they had another plan that fell through.

Personally I think Geno should be our starter until someone dethrones him but the timing of the two statements is just strange.

My position on the qb position since Pete was fired has been that we should keep Geno until we can build the base of this team and draft a replacement along the way. Howell doesn’t change that for me.

One theory that is quite possible is that they would've traded Geno for a godfather offer and didn't quite expect that to come to fruition but also didn't want to make any statements entrenching him just to immediately turn around and go back on their word.

 

[kidhawk]

The difference between then and now is that that was then and this is now. Then, the coaching staff was brand new to the Seahawks organization; now, they've had a chance to get the lay of the land, see some film, etc.

QB is a vitally important piece of the puzzle and if you come to a new team as the head coach you have probably already done your homework on the current starter. I just can’t believe he came here blind and okayed keeping a quarterback at that salary without doing his due diligence.

 

[GemCity]

In my opinion, he was never not the starter. Starting QBs usually retain that status albeit with competition at the start and during the season.

With the current turnover on this roster, it’s a legit question though….and one that MM knew he likely had to address.

I’m not reading too much into this. I do think Howell is going to make a lot harder push than Drew did though.

I understand the fanbase wanting to see new blood back there. With what is being labeled as one of the better drafts for QBs, it certainly gets your hopes up.

Unfortunately, there’s A LOT of teams in need of a QB in this upcoming draft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some organizations coughing up some serious capital for a guy (a la SF for Lance).

 

[Maelstrom787]

In my opinion, he was never not the starter. Starting QBs usually retain that status albeit with competition at the start and during the season.

With the current turnover on this roster, it’s a legit question though….and one that MM knew he likely had to address.

I’m not reading too much into this. I do think Howell is going to make a lot harder push than Drew did though.

I understand the fanbase wanting to see new blood back there. With what is being labeled as one of the better drafts for QBs, it certainly gets your hopes up.

Unfortunately, there’s A LOT of teams in need of a QB in this upcoming draft. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some organizations coughing up some serious capital for a guy (a la SF for Lance).

Denver is one to watch, unless Payton's guy is Nix.

 

[GemCity]

QB is a vitally important piece of the puzzle and if you come to a new team as the head coach you have probably already done your homework on the current starter. I just can’t believe he came here blind and okayed keeping a quarterback at that salary without doing his due diligence.

I get it but…Geno is a pro-bowler.

At the same time, I’d much prefer a statement saying something along the lines of “…it will be a competition”.

Besides being ‘safe’ to say, being pushed to get or keep a position due to competition is healthy in competitive sports.

 

[kidhawk]

I get it but…Geno is a pro-bowler.

At the same time, I’d much prefer a statement saying something along the lines of “…it will be a competition”.

Besides being ‘safe’ to say, being pushed to get or keep a position due to competition is healthy in competitive sports.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Geno isn’t our best option at the position, I just find the timing of the change in statements odd. That is all

 

[DarkVictory23]

Three overall thoughts on this:

1) I don't know why anyone thinks the timing on this is crazy or suspicious or whatever. To me, this is just like basic honesty. When they were making non-committal statements, they hadn't committed yet. Now they have, so they are making these statements. I mean, Schneider came out and said exactly this almost immediately after we drafted Howell. The only reason to act surprised now is because people were pretending that he hadn't said what he said.

2) I think this indicates that our QB room is pretty final. One of my first thoughts about why there was such an immediate change in rhetoric after we brought on Howell is that Schneider still wanted to keep Drew and knew that they needed to keep the conversation open about his chances to be the starter. I don't think there was any chance Lock would have been the starter this coming year personally, but I don't think they wanted to torpedo that aspect of the conversation publicly.
I also think this means we aren't planning to draft a QB, at least not one likely to be anything other than QB3/practice squad material. Schneider already indicated he likes a BPA approach to the first half of the draft followed by filling needs in the second half. With the way QBs are expected to come off the board this year, there is no chance any QB we see is going to be BPA and with a Geno and Sam on the roster, it's also not a position of need.

3) People on this board seem to overemphasize the value of a 'QB competition' and understate the value of having decided on your guy. Look, will Howell win the starting job if Geno completely poops the bed and Sam lights it up in camp? Sure. But different QBs are, in fact, different QBs. That means if you are planning to fit your scheme to your players and not the other way around, it actually helps if you have decided which players those are going to be, especially ones who are as integral as the QB.
Grubb is going to be trying to design an NFL level offense for the first time. It's going to be beneficial for him to know which QB he's designing that system around.

 

[knownone]

Macdonald probably hadn't thoroughly evaluated Geno when he made his initial comments. I mean, he'd been on the job for maybe two weeks at that point.

Overall, it's not a shocking judgment to reach. Geno's been a competent-to-good starting quarterback for the past two seasons. And Sam Howell—while young and promising—was pretty bad last season. Given that Seattle is unlikely to draft one of the elite prospects, naming Geno the starter feels like an easy decision.

 

[Scout]

Chronological events explain it to me. No commitment to starter prior to Locks departure. Two quarterbacks on hand to chose from with team familiarity.

Post Lock's departure, only one QB with team experience ... Geno is named the starter. The new guy Sam is will play catch up as he becomes familiar with his new team. Makes sense that he starts as the primary back up.

Seems rather straight forward to me.

I agree and that is the easiest explanation from my view.

Like I said before the team had a high opinion of Lock and that just solidifies that to me. Also keep in mind that JS likes QBs with big arms and wheels. Lock and Howell fit in that mold as well Josh Allen, R. Wilson, etc.

JS is heavily influenced by the Packers way aka Ron Wolf and to an extent Ted Thompson way of team building. The Packers philosophy at QB has been to trade and draft a QB when possible and to flood the position. Have the young QBs sit and learn if possible and to develop. So do not be surprised if the Seahawks decide to draft a QB day 3 this year even after trading for Howell to develop alongside Howell for the future.

 

[WarHawks]

Well, it looks like "always compete" is out the window. Regardless, this is much ado about nothing. Does it really matter? Neither Geno or Sam are world beaters. Yes I know, let's give Sam a chance, yada yada. Most likely however, we'll muddle through for a couple years still picking mid to late 1st round, and still be wondering if we'll ever be able to find a top ranked qb that can get us over the hump and win a sb, along with 31 other teams who don't have a qb named Mahomes. Unfortunately, I don't see anything changing significantly at qb unless the wheels fall off. On the plus side, we'll be building our roster and if/when we ever do find [or develop] a legit qbotf, the roster should be in great shape.

 

[Hotchy]

Perhaps Ryan Grub has had time to review some game tape on Geno and feels that there is no need to diss on him.
NOW (before the Draft) is a good time to get your Ducks in a row, get your STARTERS saddled up AND Build AROUND that nucleus.
Make decisions and get your groove on