Seahawks get trade-deadline calls on DK Metcalf but stand pat

SEATTLE – Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline passed at 1 p.m. without the Seahawks making a last-minute move.

The only significant Seahawks mention was a report from ESPN that the team had received a few calls about receiver DK Metcalf, but that “Seattle had no plans to deal him.”

That followed a report over the weekend from the NFL Network that stated the same.

While Metcalf is staying, there will surely be speculation about his future after the season as he has just one year remaining on his contract that includes a nonguaranteed $18 million salary in 2025 and a hefty $31.875 million cap hit. The cap hit alone indicates he’s unlikely to play in Seattle next year on that contract, and entering his age 28 season in 2025 he’s likely to want an extension.

That’s for another day as the Seahawks’ main Metcalf-related concern is getting the injured knee that has kept him out of the last two games healthy enough to play Nov. 17 at San Francisco.

It was a day that perpetuated the NFL’s long-held reputation for the hours before the trade deadline usually not being overly active.

Only eight trades were made throughout the league Tuesday. None involved anything higher than a third-round pick, and only two involved picks higher than the fifth round.

Only 19 veteran players switched teams via trade since the beginning of the season, according to ESPN.

Three of those came in trades involving the Seahawks over the past three weeks, deals to acquire middle linebacker Ernest Jones IV (in which they sent linebacker Jerome Baker to Tennessee) and getting defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris from Jacksonville.

The Seahawks have hardly stood pat since the season began.

Those two deals made this one of the busier seasons for the Seahawks when it comes to trades.

Before this year, they had made just nine trades during the regular season since John Schneider took over as general manager in 2010.

Only twice before had the Seahawks made two. One of those years was the first season for Carroll and Schneider in 2010 when the team was in almost daily “roster churn mode.”

Those deals were a trade with Buffalo to acquire Marshawn Lynch and trading receiver Deion Branch to New England for a fourth-round pick that turned into K.J. Wright.

The Seahawks had made only three October or later deals since 2017 before this year, though each was significant, adding safety Quandre Diggs in 2019, rush end Carlos Dunlap in 2020 and defensive lineman Leonard Williams last year.

The additions of Jones and Robertson-Harris came in the wake of the Seahawks’ defensive struggles that helped turn a 3-0 start into the team’s 4-5 standing.

The defense’s play against the Rams in a 26-20 overtime loss Sunday – allowing just one offensive touchdown on 12 possessions in regulation – had coach Mike Macdonald feeling as if that side of the ball may be ready to make a positive turn.

Specifically, the team feels putting Jones at middle linebacker and moving Tyrel Dodson to the weakside may have solidified the inside linebacking position.

The Seahawks held the Rams to 68 yards on 24 carries with no run longer than 9 yards. Jones and Dodson led the Seahawks with nine tackles each and Jones had the best grade of any Seahawks defensive player from Pro Football Focus at 83.4, including an 85.7 on run defense.

Jones’ overall grade was the fifth best among linebackers this week, via PFF, the run defense third, as was his three run stops.

“I do feel like having some consistency in who’s aligning next to who on our defense helped to the (question) of like, ‘Hey, how did you guys take a step?’ ” Macdonald said Monday. “It’s good when you got the same crew out there and you’re able to stack a lot of reps next to each other. But the linebacker spot, it felt like they took a step last night, especially Ernest.”

The Seahawks surely made calls to see what might be out there to help the beleaguered offensive line.

Offensive linemen in the midst of good seasons rarely are dealt.

There had been some speculation that Jacksonville might be looking to deal veteran guard Brandon Scherff.

Scherff, though, turns 33 in December and has a $14 million cap hit next year as part of a contract that voids after this season, meaning he’d just be a rental for the rest of this year unless signed to an extension.

While Scherff has five Pro Bowls on his résumé, all came from 2016-21 while with the Washington Commanders.

Staying pat means the Seahawks remain with eight projected draft picks for 2025 – their own in the first, second, third and seventh rounds, projected compensatory picks for players lost in free agency in the fourth (Damien Lewis), fifth (Jordyn Brooks) and sixth (Bobby Wagner), as well as Chicago’s pick in the sixth from an earlier trade for Darrell Taylor.

The comp picks do not become official until the spring, and some of the conditions that have them getting three could change.

The Seahawks have their bye this week and after meetings on Monday, players are off until next Monday, when the team will begin practicing in preparation for the 49ers’ game.

Macdonald said coaches will be busy all week assessing the first nine games to try to fix the issues that arose in the streak of five losses in six games.

Macdonald, halfway through his first year as an NFL head coach, noted Monday that he felt the defense was helped against the Rams by making decisions earlier in the week on what things to take out of the game plan, which allowed them to spend more time working on schemes that they would for sure use.

Macdonald mentioned the need to be even “more efficient” in how the team is operating on defense and said he will examine changing some things in their weekly schedule, among other items.

“Got to be learning,” he said on his radio show on Seattle Sports 710. “What are you doing it you’re not?”

In general, Macdonald said he’s confident the Seahawks have what they need to make a run at the NFC West.

“Really believe in our process and what we’re trying to achieve as a team and the foundation that we’re building, and we’re chasing it,” he said. “We’re chasing to make that kind of vision come to life. We talked about it (Sunday) night after the game. Creating this environment and nightmare for teams that come in and play us. And you see it in spots. That should be (a reason to be) optimistic moving forward, but it’s also a reminder that we’re not there yet, and we need to get there. We need to get there in a hurry.”