Richard Sherman might be traded, or perhaps he’ll remain with the Seattle Seahawks. But one thing is certain: The team isn’t keeping trade talks a secret.
Pete Carroll confirmed the Sherman trade talk a bit last week, and Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider opened the doors into the organization’s thinking a bit more in an interview that aired Wednesday on 710 ESPN Seattle.
“What you’ve seen lately in the news is real,” Schneider told ‘Brock and Salk’ in an interview that aired Wednesday (h/t Brady Henderson of 710 ESPN Seattle). “That’s on both sides.”
In a league where cloak and dagger is the norm, this is a refreshing dose of real talk.
Schneider delved into this a bit, discussing how the Seahawks like to be open with their players about what’s going on.
“I think we’re a very unique organization in that regard. We have a great relationship with a lot of our players,” Schneider said.” There’s very much an openness. What you’ve seen lately in the news is real. That’s on both sides. It’s just open communication. He knows what’s going on. We know what’s going on. I don’t know if anything would ever happen, but like I tell people all the time, 98 percent of the deals that we’re involved with, we don’t follow through with. But at least we’ve opened that door, gone down the road and seen what’s behind Door A or Door B.”
Scheider also made it clear that he and Sherman “absolutely” have clear lines of communication about all this talk.
It seems clear that the hidden message in what Carroll and Schneider have publicly said is this: Give us a big offer, and Sherman can be yours.
And this message shouldn’t be that surprising. While Sherman is still one of the more dominant cornerbacks in the league, Seattle has some pretty big fish to fry. The team’s offensive line is a disaster, which has led to Russell Wilson enduring 128 regular-season sacks and 23 sacks in the playoffs the past three seasons.
More than that, as good as Sherman is individually, Seattle’s secondary is otherwise getting pretty darn thin, especially when you consider both Kam Chancellor and Earl Thomas have been injured recently.
With all that in mind, it wouldn’t shock us whatsoever if Sherman did end up getting moved at some point in the near future. Though, it might wouldn’t happen until after the draft, which is very talent laden at the cornerback position. Teams that need help afterwards might be more interested in making a deal, though at that point perhaps a deal would be harder to get done unless Seattle is coveting future picks.