With the NFL draft rapidly approaching, Seahawks general manager and president of football operations John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald met with the media on Monday to talk about the upcoming draft, the state of the team, and several other topics.

Like the decision makers for every other NFL team, Schneider and Macdonald weren't about to volunteer any details on the Seattle's draft plans, but that doesn't mean there weren't some informative and interesting takeaways from their session with the media.

With that in mind, here are five things we learned from Schneider and Macdonald on Monday:

1. The Seahawks are open to multiple options at quarterback.

It has been an eventful offseason for the Seahawks at the game's most important position. Geno Smith, the team's starter for the past three seasons, was traded to Las Vegas last month, with the Seahawks quickly replacing him by signing Sam Darnold, who was coming off a Pro Bowl season in which he helped the Vikings to a 14-3 record. The Seahawks also signed Drew Lock, meaning they have three quarterbacks with significant starting experience in Darnold, Lock and Sam Howell, who was Smith's backup last year but who started 17 games for the Commanders in 2023. The Seahawks also like the potential of Jaren Hall, a 2023 fifth-round pick who they signed last season.

"We're excited to have those four quarterbacks, we have three quarterbacks that have thrown for over 3,000 yards in a season, and all of them can move," Schneider said. "That's a cool group.

"Getting Drew back here—Drew's very well respected in the building, so it's great to get him back here in the mix. He had other opportunities, and we stayed in touch with his agent. We spent time with him down in Florida so Mike could get to know him a little bit when we were down there. He's a great person, great competitor to add to this building."

Asked what the addition of Lock means for Howell, Macdonald said, "It means that those guys are going to be competing. Both guys know that, and Jaren's part of the mix too, he can compete with those guys. But anytime you're adding competition to a room on a football team, it's good for us, especially when they're great players and great guys, it's going to be fun to see how it shakes out."

While the Seahawks have carried two quarterbacks on their 53-man roster more often than not, keeping a third on the practice squad, Schneider said he would be comfortable keeping three depending on how things play out.

And having those four quarterbacks doesn't necessarily mean the Seahawks are done adding to that position.

When asked if the addition of Lock changes the Seahawks' plans in the draft, Schneider said, "No. It's just hard to maneuver around with quarterbacks."

Schneider explained that, as much as he'd love to draft quarterbacks more often, there are so few available in any given draft, meaning the way a draft falls doesn't always line up with Seattle's draft board. And rather than reach to add a quarterback out of need, the Seahawks would rather stock up on that position ahead of time to give themselves more flexibility to draft the best player available at any given draft slot.

"I've talked about it before, we've only drafted two (quarterbacks)," Schneider said. "You've got to be careful how far you push those guys… What's happened, especially at that position—it's the most important position on the team—so yeah, over the years, there's been a lot of people who have been, I don't want to say over-drafted, but based on the class, just pushed up."

Schneider was also asked about the report that the teams have inquired about Howell's availability in a trade, and while Schneider said, "I don't know; we're not there yet," when asked if the Seahawks are open to moving Howell, he confirmed there have been inquiries.

"Yeah, that's accurate," Schneider said. "We have a great relationship with Bruce (Tollner), his agent, and Bruce is very well known and respected throughout the national Football League and he has a ton of contacts, so it's a very open dialogue."

2. The Seahawks are "fired up" about their roster, and also excited about their draft capital.

Because of the trades the Seahawks made this offseason, sending DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh and Geno Smith to Las Vegas, they have five picks in the first three rounds, the type of draft capital that gives the Seahawks a chance to add a bunch of good players, or to move around in the draft should they so desire.

"It's exciting," Schneider said. "We were in there yesterday afternoon staring at (the draft board) for a while. It's fun. There's a lot of room for activity. It just provides us with more opportunities to either just stay and pick good players, or maneuver around."

And part of what makes having those picks even more fun is that the Seahawks will head into the draft feeling like they don't have to force anything thanks to the roster that's already in place.

"We like it," Schneider said when asked about the state of the roster. "We like where we're at."

Macdonald then cut in, saying, "Fired up."

"We think we can just pick darn good football players," Schneider added.

3. Yes, the Seahawks still want to add to their offensive line, but so do a lot of other teams.

It's not secret that the Seahawks want to improve on their offensive line. The Seahawks are young up front, and at guard and center, they have young talent, but not a ton of starting experience. But while it's very likely that the Seahawks will try to add to their line in the draft, so too will a lot of other teams. As Schneider has discussed in the past, and did again on Monday, there are just fewer quality offensive linemen to go around than there were a decade or two ago. Some of that has to do with the fact that the best and most athletic big men gravitate to the defensive line, which comes with more glory and oftentimes better paychecks, while some of it has to do with offenses being run in high school and college that don't produce as many NFL-ready linemen. Schneider also pointed out that NFL Europe, which folded in 2007, has hurt player development, particularly at offensive line and quarterback.

"I think it's an area of need, absolutely," Schneider said. "I think it's been very well documented throughout the spring. But it's also a little bit of a lazy narrative because every team is looking for offensive linemen. We're trying to create guys every single year. It used to be when I started in the league with Ron Wolf, it was a free agent had to have three redeeming qualities. Now, especially with offensive linemen, you have guys maybe in the fourth round that have two redeeming qualities: tall and long, strong and quick, whatever. It's just happened. It's not anything that anybody in football is happy about, to be honest with you. It's an area that hasn't been developed as well as the other side of the ball for one reason or another. I think it just fundamentally comes down to, like, if you're going to be playing football at a young age, you want to go sack the quarterback and do your sack dance, or do you want to go block for a running back or a quarterback? I think it comes down to that."

4. Decision coming soon on Charles Cross' fifth-year option.

Beginning in 2011, NFL teams can exercise a fifth-year option on first-round picks, but have to make that decision prior to the player's fourth season. This year, the deadline to exercise that option is May 1, and the Seahawks have a decision to make on left tackle Charles Cross. Using the fifth-year option doesn't preclude a long-term extension from getting done, but it would at least assure the Seahawks one more season of stability at left tackle while potentially working out an extension with Cross.

So far the Seahawks have used that option only once, picking up Frank Clark's fifth-year option before trading him ahead of the 2019 draft, but Cross could well be a candidate to have his option picked up considering his level of play and the importance of the position he plays.

If the Seahawks have decided to pick up Cross' option, Schneider wasn't ready to say so just yet.

"We'll answer that at a later date," he said.

5. "There's a lot of enthusiasm" from players about the direction of the team.

The Seahawks have made some significant changes this offseason, especially on offense. Not only have the Seahawks moved on from Geno Smith, Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf while adding the likes of Sam Darnold, Cooper Kupp and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, they also overhauled the offensive coaching staff, with Klint Kubiak taking over as offensive coordinator.

But while a lot has changed for the Seahawks coming off a 10-7 season that saw them barely miss the playoffs, what hasn't changed is that players and coaches alike are optimistic about the direction of the team.

"There's a lot of enthusiasm," Macdonald said. "Our guys are really excited. I'm going off of the conversations I've had with the guys on our roster. It's not to make a comment about the guys that were here and the guys that are here, it's just, there's a lot of respect for the guys that are on our football team, and a lot of prior relationships too that have kind of come back into the mold, so guys are excited about renewing that relationship that they've had with those guys, and being in this setting here at the VMAC every day. So I'm really encouraged and really excited."