Seattle Seahawks send clear signal of how they view their roster with huge 2024 NFL Draft decision

With the help of the Russell Wilson trade, the Seattle Seahawks have, over recent years, rebuilt their roster on the fly while staying competitive.

The Seahawks' roster of 2024 bears very little resemblance to the one that bottomed out, by former head coach Pete Carroll's lofty standards, in going 7-10 in 2021.

Seattle's success in remaking the vast majority of the team since that disappointing campaign influenced a significant decision by general manager John Schneider in the 2024 draft, the first with new head coach Mike MacDonald at the helm.

Schneider revealed he turned down four "good" trade offers to stay at the 16th overall pick in the first round of the draft and select Texas defensive tackle Byron Murphy II, who became the second defensive player drafted. He had been regarded as a candidate to be the first defensive prospect off the board.

The Seattle GM has long since had a well-earned reputation for trading down and, with no second-round pick in the 2024 draft, doing so again would have made sense.

However, in a piece looking at how the Seahawks came to draft Murphy, ESPN's Brady Henderson explained why, on this occasion, Schneider elected to stay put.

Wrote Henderson:

So then the decision had arrived -- either draft Murphy or trade out of that spot. Schneider's long history of trading back and the absence of a second-round pick made another move down the draft board seem like a strong possibility, if not a likelihood. And while Schneider gave it serious thought, a source said his decision to stay put was influenced by a belief that the Seahawks didn't need the extra draft capital as much as they might if they were in more of a rebuild.

Schneider's apparent belief the Seahawks are not in more of a rebuild is something of an interesting one. While the Murphy pick puts their defensive front in much better shape, the Seahawks' options at edge are still unconvincing. The secondary is in excellent shape, but linebacker remains an area of huge concern, one Seattle wasn't able to address until the fourth round with the selection of Tyrece Knight out of UTEP.

On the other side of the ball, doubts about the offensive line persist. In that respect, though, Schneider would point to the selection of UConn guard Christian Haynes in the third round, a steal that addressed Seattle's biggest need.

But had they traded down, the Seahawks would still have been able to take a top defensive tackle as Illinois' Johnny Newton fell out of the first altogether. With the extra capital, they might have been able to address the center position by taking Jackson Powers-Johnson or drafted a more pro-ready option at the linebacker position.

That is not to say Schneider made the wrong move. The Seahawks identified Murphy, a destructive interior pass rusher who should thrive playing on the same front as Leonard Williams, as a top target and they got him. On top of that, they landed a huge value pick in Haynes who should be able to start at right guard day one.

But his view of where they are in their on-the-fly rebuild is a curious one. The Seahawks were a 9-8 team last year that looked a long way from seriously contending. 

Now, heading into the 2024 season, they still have obvious holes that opponents can exploit (see: Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay vs. linebackers). The rebuild looks some way from complete but, in Murphy, they have landed a talent who greatly improves the odds of Schneider, MacDonald and the Seahawks proving the doubters wrong.