Should Seattle Seahawks consider QB trade this offseason?

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Sam Darnold just helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to their second Lombardi Trophy, but coming into the season, there were reasonable questions as to whether he’d still be the guy come season’s end.

With Seahawks back on top, it’s time for Seattle to soak it all in

After a resurgent year with the Minnesota Vikings, the Seahawks signed Darnold to a three-year contract last March to be their next starting quarterback. They also hedged their bet by taking Alabama’s Jalen Milroe in the third round of the draft just over a month after Darnold signed.

However, Milroe ended up being inactive and serving as Seattle’s emergency third quarterback on most game days. The rookie appeared in three games early in the season to run a specialty package, taking one snap in each contest, and didn’t appear in a game after Week 5.

With Darnold now clearly cemented in as the Seahawks’ quarterback for at least the near future, it appears Milroe will have to wait to get his chance to be a starting quarterback in the NFL – unless the Seahawks decide to capitalize on their being several quarterback-needy teams during an offseason with a weak crop of signal-callers in the draft and free agency.

ESPN’s Benjamin Solak recently wrote about how those quarterback-needy squads can approach the offseason’s underwhelming market. He included Milroe in his third tier of options as a player teams could try their luck on as a lottery ticket in a trade.

Should the Seahawks consider trading Milroe this offseason? Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy weighed in on Tuesday.

The Seahawks will have some work to do this offseason figuring out which impending free agents they can bring back. Seattle has several key players about to hit free agency, including running back Kenneth Walker III, wide receiver Rashid Shaheed, edge rusher Boye Mafe, cornerback Riq Woolen, cornerback Josh Jobe and safety Coby Bryant.

The good news is they have plenty of salary cap space. According to OverTheCap.com, the $72,284,461 in cap space the Seahawks have this offseason is the sixth-most in the league. But that number could easily change in quite a hurry if star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba and cornerback Devon Witherspoon get extensions as they head into the final year of their rookie deals.

Seattle also currently has just four picks in the upcoming draft.

For those reasons, Seahawks Radio Network analyst and former NFL wide receiver Michael Bumpus wouldn’t hesitate about dealing Milroe.

“With all the contracts that are coming up or free agents that are coming up that you gotta pay, you’re gonna need some replacements, you’re gonna need some replenishment, and I think he would be the perfect one for that,” Bumpus said. “If they didn’t win the Super Bowl this year and we saw a different player from Sam Darnold, then maybe I feel different about it.”

“That’s the first thing I’m doing is saying, who needs a quarterback?” Bumpus added. “Especially with the draft class coming out this year, there’s not a whole lot of talent. Obviously these guys can play, but we’re talking about top-tier projection. There’s not a lot, and there are some teams that might be looking for a quarterback or two. So yeah, I’d explore it easily.”

Backup quarterback Drew Lock is also under contract through the 2026 season. So why not try to see if they can trade him instead of Milroe?

“Because I feel like you can get more from (trading) Milroe. Because you’re trying to rebuild this team,” Bumpus said. “… Most of these (impending free agents) ain’t gonna be back. So how you build this team outside of the draft is you take one of your assets and you try to ship them out.”

Co-host Stacy Rost made the point that with the position the Seahawks are in heading into 2026 as a Super Bowl contender, having Lock as the backup over Milroe is the better option.

“I think by virtue of winning a Super Bowl, the Seahawks have to have some short-term priorities,” Rost said. “Yes, you want to make sure that you don’t get your team into financial hell by trying to win now. But you also have to be aware of who helps you win the most right now.”

“If Sam Darnold were to get hurt in Week 10, who do you have more faith in: Drew Lock, who has not only started games for multiple NFL teams, but who has started games for Seattle, or Jalen Milroe, who’s a rookie who was in for like a cool play one time? You’re trusting Drew Lock,” Rost added. “When the expectation (is) … going into 2026 that you win a Super Bowl, you need someone who gives you the best shot to win right now.”

Darnold is under contract through 2027 and could be in line for an extension sooner rather than later after leading the team to a Super Bowl win. And since quarterback is a position where teams ideally only have one person taking all the in-game reps, Bumpus sees Milroe as being in a similar position to a recently traded Seattle Mariners catching prospect.

“You know who Jalen is? He’s Harry Ford. He’s blocked,” Bumpus said. “He is blocked because this team (is) going into next year as Super Bowl favorites (with) playoff potential (expected to be) competing for the division (title). If something were to happen to Sam, you gotta go with something that gives you the best chance to win right now, and that’s hardly a guy who hasn’t played many snaps in the NFL.”

Listen to the full conversation here or in the audio player in this story. Tune in to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.