Amid Geno Smith contract talks, would Drew Lock also return to Seahawks in 2023? Well...

Drew Lock was usually the last Seahawk on the practice field.

He and third-string quarterback Sean Mannion spent up to a half hour throwing every pass in the coaches’ script for that day’s practice, often to quarterbacks coach Dave Canales and other assistants. Then, Lock and Mannion would throw every pass in that week’s game plan.

Lock did this every practice, from September through last week before Seattle lost in the NFC wild-card playoffs at San Francisco. The former Denver starter who hadn’t been a season-long backup before this said the veteran Mannion taught him the need to have thrown passes the coaches are going to call in a game, in case he entered it unexpectedly.

Lock never did. He watched his entire first Seahawks season since arriving from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade. Lock watched Geno Smith break records, make the Pro Bowl and lead the Seahawks into a surprising postseason appearance.

Lock learned. He marveled at how free and fun coach Pete Carroll made the players’ work days. He was impressed with the brotherhood he and his Seahawks teammates shared, including Lock’s with Smith.

“This is a special place,” Lock said last week, on his way out Seahawks headquarters into the offseason. “I learned, a lot.

“But as a competitor, I want to play.”

Smith’s and Lock’s contracts

Smith, 32, and the 25-year-old Lock both had their contracts end with Seattle’s playoff loss last weekend.

Carroll says the Seahawks want both quarterbacks back for 2023.

But likely only one will return.

The team has already started what Carroll this week called preliminary talks with Smith on a new, multiyear contract. It would be his first one since the rookie deal he signed with the New York Jets in 2013. He’s been on one-year contracts since then, including the last four seasons with the Seahawks. After breaking four team records for passing in a season (completions, attempts, yards, completion rate), Smith may go from $3.5 million in 2022 to perhaps $25 million-$30 million for 2023 and beyond.

Smith said last weekend “I want to finish my career in Seattle.”

Lock isn’t likely to re-sign to sit again through another season while still in his mid-20s. As many as a dozen teams could be in the market for new quarterbacks this offseason. But Lock’s market value is low after losing the job against Smith to succeed Wilson in August and not playing a single snap this past season.

“Drew was as positive as you could hope a guy would be that didn’t get a chance to play,” Carroll said. “He had a really good experience. He worked great with the coaches, we really appreciated his talent, his work ethic, and even more so, his mentality and support of Geno. He and Geno were buddies through the whole thing. They helped each other, and Sean Mannion was part of that, as well.

“He doesn’t know what is coming up, so we have to wait and see. But we would love to have him back and keep growing with him.”

Of course Carroll would like Lock back. He wants to keep his offensive system intact for 2023.

It just had Smith make the Pro Bowl as a 4,282-yard passer leading the league with a 69.8% completion rate. It had Kenneth Walker rush for 1,000 yards; he joined Curt Warner in 1983 as the only Seahawks rookies to do that. The offense also had two 1,000-yard receivers for only the third time in team history, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett.

Carroll wants status quo with his skill positions on offense. The teams does need to upgrade the center and guard positions.

“Well, you saw it. You saw a guy throw for more yards than anybody has ever thrown in our franchise,” Carroll said. “You saw a guy complete more passes than anyone in the history of the franchise, almost 70% of his passes for the year. We had a 1,000-yard receiver, (another) 1,000-yard receiver, and to be also matched up with a rookie running back that runs for 1,000 yards. All of that fits together, so I think the system is intact and ready to go.

“We know what we have coming back. I think Geno’s play in particular shows you that the system is in order.”

A pivotal Seahawks draft

The Seahawks own what for them is a once-in-a-generation pick, fifth overall in round one, from Denver thanks to the Wilson trade.

There is validity to thinking if a quarterback Carroll and Schneider feel could lead the franchise for a decade is available at five, be it Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud or whoever, Seattle should draft him. That’s even with the team re-signing Smith. A team drafts a player at five not for that year, but the plan for a decade. That’s at any position picking that high.

It’s been 14 years since Seattle drafted in the top five: linebacker Aaron Curry in 2009.

Plus, it would behoove the Seahawks to go to the NFL’s annual scouting combine in Indianapolis that begins Feb. 28 with the league believing Seattle is strongly considering drafting a quarterback at five. That could prompt QB-needy teams positioned below in the first round, say Carolina with Seattle native and former Seahawks personnel man Scott Fitterer as its GM, to offer a king’s ransom to trade up for the Seahawks’ choice.

“If we didn’t have a quarterback that functioned really well, it might’ve been a little bit different,” Carroll said of Seattle’s approach to this unique draft. “The quarterbacks in this draft are extraordinary players. You don’t get opportunities like this.

“We are really tuned in to all of those options.”

Another Seahawks option, one that gives them ultimate leverage with their QB: Use the franchise or transition tag. That would essentially keep Smith from shopping in free agency. Seattle would have the right to match or answer any other offer Smith could get. If he signed elsewhere while tagged the Seahawks would get two first-round picks.

It would cost Seattle a one-year tender offer for a franchise tag for a quarterback of an estimated $32.4 million against the 2024 cap, or an estimated $30.4 million for the transition tag. Franchise tag salaries are the average of the top five salaries at that position across the league. Transition tags cost the average of the top 10 base pays at a position.

The league’s window to use the one franchise or transition tag a team has each offseason is Feb. 17 to March 5.

Free agency begins when the new league year does, March 15.

Smith could logically argue to the Seahawks that $30 million per year, the transition tag cost, is the floor for what he’ll accept to re-sign. He could refuse offers worth less, and if Seattle wanted to keep him it would cost at least that $30 million transition tag to ensure he stays.

Carroll said in August “we may have two number ones” at quarterback, Smith and Lock. So some ask why the Seahawks wouldn’t save the salary-cap space they would allocate to Smith and pay Lock a fraction of that to be their quarterback for 2023, if they like him so much.

But letting Smith walk away would create a locker-room issue.

The trust and respect he had with Seahawks players over three seasons backing up Wilson, including three games starting when Wilson had finger surgery in November 2021, was a large reason Smith had the inside track over Lock from the first offseason practices this past spring. Smith never got off that track.

Letting Smith leave after the best season of his career, a Pro Bowl one that got the Seahawks into the playoffs, would rub many in the locker room the wrong way. And intangibles including the pulse of the locker room matter to the personal-touch Carroll as much or more than they do to most NFL coaches.

Lock wanting to play could open the door to the Seahawks drafting a quarterback to develop behind Smith. That could be with one of their four picks in the top 52 of April’s draft, or in later rounds. Seattle owns these nine picks:

• Round 1, Pick 5

• Round 1, Pick 20

• Round 2, Pick 37

• Round 2, Pick 52

• Round 3, Pick 83

• Round 4, Pick 120

• Round 5, Pick 148

• Round 5, Pick 151

• Round 6, Pick 184

The Seahawks could trade down from five, get another first-round pick from another team for 2024, then still draft a quarterback — plus the defensive tackles, ends and linebackers they need to improve the awful run defense and spotty pass rush that doomed Seattle this past season.

“It’s different because there will be a different attention paid to us from other teams that might be interested in moving around or whatever,” Carroll said. “We’re always looking at the top 15 or 20 guys and trying to figure out how they are going to go and figure out what is going to fall to you. It’s a different sense in that regard. It’s a little clearer of what is going to happen. We’ll be more clearly connected of what the opportunities are.

“Like I said for John, this is a dream opportunity here. He’s pumped about it.”