National Football League

Seahawks GM John Schneider: Keeping Leonard Williams a 'priority'

Updated Mar. 8, 2024 10:37 a.m. ET

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The Seattle Seahawks swung a midseason trade last year to land defensive lineman Leonard Williams, and they liked what they saw. In fact, general manager John Schneider is focused on re-signing the veteran in the coming weeks.

"We’re gonna try to get him back. We’d love to have him back," Schneider said about Williams on Thursday's edition of Seattle Sports' "Wyman and Bob." "He’s definitely a priority for us. We’re in the negotiations right now, and the agents know how we feel, and so we’re trying to retain him, no doubt."

Williams is set to hit the NFL free agent market, which officially opens on March 13 at 4 p.m. ET. Seattle acquired Williams from the New York Giants in October for its 2024 second-round (No. 47) and 2025 fifth-round draft pick, and the defensive lineman found success in the Pacific Northwest.

Across the 10 games that he appeared in for the Seahawks, Williams totaled four sacks, 41 combined tackles and one pass defended. The Seahawks won three of their last four games to get back into the playoff hunt in the waning moments of the 2023 season, but they ultimately came up short, finishing 9-8.

Through and through, Seattle's defense struggled mightily, surrendering 233.0 passing yards (21st in the NFL), 138.4 rushing yards (31st), 371.4 total yards (30th) and 23.6 points (25th) per game.

Williams, who will be 30 next season, was selected by the New York Jets with the No. 6 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of USC, and he played for Gang Green through the middle of the 2019 season, when he was then traded to the Giants and stayed through last season's trade.

Williams has racked up one 10-plus sack season (2020), and just concluded a three-year, $63 million contract.

Schneider sees Williams as a long-term piece to the puzzle for the Seahawks.

"Yeah, he played great … You know, we gave up that second-round pick, we went for it. We thought that he was going to help change our defense, and he played well," Schneider said. "Unfortunately, we didn’t make the playoffs, but he’s a guy that we want to keep in the mix. You can move him around … you can play him wherever you want, and he’s a great guy. He likes it here. I had a great exit interview with him and yeah, we hope to retain him."

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The Seahawks have roughly $40 million in cap space after releasing veteran defensive backs Jamal Adams and Quandre Diggs, as well as tight end Will Dissly. Outside of Williams, linebackers Bobby Wagner, Jordyn Brooks and Darrell Taylor and tight ends Noah Fant and Colby Parkinson are among the Seattle players scheduled to hit the open market.

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