Seahawks GM John Schneider Confirms Richard Sherman Trade Rumors Are Real

Seahawks GM John Schneider confirmed during an appearance on ESPN 710 Seattle Wednesday that the trade rumors surrounding CB Richard Sherman are “real,” per Bob Condotta.

“What you’ve seen lately in the news is real. On both sides,” Schneider said. “I don’t know if anything would ever happen.”

Schneider made it clear that he’s spoken with Sherman about the trade buzz that has been going around.

“This isn’t a secret like this just came out of nowhere,” Schneider said, via Pro Football Talk. “People find things out and we’re not going to lie to each other and we’re not going to BS each other. It’s going to be all laid out, and like I said, that doesn’t happen everywhere. … 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.”

Michael Lombardi of TheRinger, who first mentioned that the Seahawks would be open to trading Sherman for the right deal, said last Thursday on “GM Street” podcast that he believes Seattle would dump Sherman’s salary if possible.

“It’s no secret. Now it’s being positioned that teams have called for Sherman,” Lombardi said. “Well, teams wouldn’t call for Sherman unless Seattle let it out that they were interested. So look, do I think it’s going to happen? The No. 1 thing fans have to understand is they paid Sherman a lot money and Pete Carroll’s defense — we talked about this on the podcast — paying a cornerback that much money. Is it really what he wants to do?”

“He thinks he can draft corners and this draft is filled with corners that fit Seattle’s system. Play the deep third of the field, jam at the line of scrimmage. I think if they can dump the salary, I think they would.”

“I think they’re going to draft guys,” Lombardi added. “I think they have to get their cap in order.”

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll confirmed that they’re received trade inquiries from teams about Sherman.

“You either are competing or you are not,’’ Carroll said, via Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. “So we have always had to be open to every suggestion that comes along. There have been some teams that have called, and so we have talked about it. But he is extremely important to our football team. I don’t see anything happening at all. I don’t see anything happening with any of our players … it has been talked about. He is a great player and he can impact a team. I can see why people would be interested in him.’’

For what it’s worth, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reported that the Patriots were one of a few teams to inquire about a potential trade for Sherman before the signed Stephon Gilmore to a big-money contract at the start of free agency.

Sherman, 28, is a former fifth-round pick of the Seahawks back in 2011. He’s currently in the fourth years of his five-year, $58.789 million contract that includes $40 million guaranteed and stands to make base salaries of $11.431 million and $11 million over the final two years of the agreement.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Sherman would free up $9,231,000 of available cap space while creating $4,400,000 in dead money.

In 2016, Sherman appeared in all 16 games and recorded 58 tackles, four interceptions, a fumble recovery and 13 pass defenses. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 13 cornerback out of 112 qualifying players.

We’ll have more regarding a potential Sherman trade as the news is available.