Mike Macdonald on Geno Smith, Drew Lock being part of Seahawks' future: 'That's a tough question'

Change begets change.

After 14 seasons with Pete Carroll as a constant in Seattle, the Seahawks' future is now in the hands of head coach Mike Macdonald, whose primary responsibility will be halting the team's playoff hiatus at a single season.

In today's NFL, that often means locking in plans at the quarterback position, something Macdonald wasn't quite ready to do Sunday when asked if Geno Smith and Drew Lock will both be involved in the future of the organization going forward.

"That's a tough question, and it's one that I probably can't answer right now," Macdonald told KCPQ Seattle's Aaron Levine. "But we're doing a lot of work on those guys. And I've had conversations just to get to know them. Understand who they are as people and their background, goals and what their family's like and where they're from. I didn't know anything about them coming into this whole thing. So, right now we're in the phase of figuring out who they are. Obviously, one or two, or both, would fit into our plans moving forward. But right now, probably don't have that answer for you."

For Smith, signs point toward him being a part of -- at least -- Seattle's immediate future.

He still has two years remaining on the deal he signed last March in the wake of his 2022 NFL Comeback Player of the Year campaign. The team allowed his $12.7 million base salary to become guaranteed by keeping him on the roster through Feb. 16, and NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero reported on Friday that Seattle converted $9.6 million of his roster bonus into a signing bonus to clear $4.8 million in cap space.

Even after a slight step back for Smith in 2023, the new brass is working in conjunction with him to open up spending money elsewhere.

Smith emerged from a nearly