The big headline for the 2024 Seattle Seahawks is the arrival of Mike Macdonald to replace Pete Carroll. Macdonald is the youngest head coach in the NFL, replacing the oldest (chronologically, certainly not spiritually) coach.

While Macdonald’s arrival is a big deal in and of itself, the main story here is less about Macdonald and more about the man who hired him: general manager John Schneider. This is Schneider’s 15th season as GM — remember, Carroll selected Schneider in the hiring process — but his first with full authority over players and coaching staff. Schneider was the one who led the extensive search to replace Carroll, hire Macdonald and assemble a coaching staff that has revitalized a frustrated fan base after one playoff win in seven seasons and none in the last four.

In the old days of the Field Gulls, the Carroll-Schneider partnership was often referred to as the Queen/Prime Minister, or “Q/PM” for short. At the time, there was a lot of skepticism about Carroll’s latest foray into NFL head coaching, which hadn’t gone particularly well up until that point. There was definitely some antipathy toward USC (especially given the circumstances surrounding Carroll’s departure from the program), but the point is that Schneider was comparatively considered the figurehead while Carroll, for lack of a better phrase, “ran the country.”

When Carroll and Schneider did “Extreme Makeover: Seahawks Edition” with a talent-poor roster—you wouldn’t believe how that place fell apart when Darryl Tapp was traded for Chris Clemons—and built an eventual Super Bowl winner, skepticism and criticism turned to effusive praise. Home run draft classes, unearthed gems from the draft and smart free agent signings quickly built a mega-talented roster and created the best winning streak in franchise history.

In recent years, the Q/PM designation has boomeranged back into existence, with a dash of “Scot McCloughan was the real mastermind” thrown in. As the Seahawks’ winning streak has relatively waned in recent seasons, there have been endless debates about who to blame/credit Pete and John. The ridiculously bad offensive lines, the deteriorating draft classes, the inconsistent trades, the many defensive backs on defense have put both men under renewed (but not equal) scrutiny. Which moves were “John’s moves” and which were “Pete’s moves”? It seems a downright silly suggestion that Carroll let Schneider do a little GMing as a reward, in which case Schneider probably should have taken another job if that’s really how the power structure worked. Schneider told Seattle Sports about their relationship in the spring.

“It’s exactly the same thing,” Schneider said. “Pete was amazing in that he could be the guy who stood up and said, ‘Contractually, I have the final say here.’ He rarely, rarely did that in 15 years.

“He never said, ‘Hey, we’re not doing this or we’re doing that.’ It was more that I could tell he wasn’t comfortable with a trade or an acquisition or whatever. I could sense that, so why would we force that and why go down that path? But yeah, nothing’s changed in that regard.”

His answer probably won’t sway many who already believe that, say, the Jamal Adams transfer was a “Carroll move” and the Carlos Dunlap transfer was a “Schneider move,” but it’s a perfectly credible statement. If we take his word for it, that means Schneider has been involved in virtually every great, good, average, bad and terrible roster decision since the beginning of their partnership. So while Carroll takes the additional blame as the final decision-maker and head coach, Schneider is neither blameless nor a glorified cap management guy. On the contrary, they were both phenomenal in their prime, changing the culture of an organization and a sports city in ways we’ve never seen before.

We’re now at a point where we can see Schneider play an entire season independent of Carroll, and the hierarchy between him and Macdonald is clearly defined. While Macdonald has influence and collaboration, the success of Macdonald and the Seahawks as a whole in 2024 and beyond will rest primarily on Schneider’s shoulders. His contract keeps him through the 2027 draft, so unless something particularly catastrophic happens, Schneider’s job is as secure as it gets through 2025.

I remember being against Carroll and Schneider leading the Seahawks’ next rebuild during the speculation and eventual transaction surrounding Russell Wilson. Enough time has passed, and while I don’t think I was completely wrong about Carroll given the weaknesses of his defense, Schneider deserves the benefit of the doubt. Keeping Wilson instead of giving him an albatross of a contract would have guaranteed the release of at least one of Pete or John, possibly even both.

By letting Wilson go, the Seahawks were able to replenish the roster with top-tier draft picks and not have to drop all the way to 3-14. While we may need another season or two to make a big announcement, the 2022 and 2023 drafts seem to have just as much of a positive impact as 2010 and 2011. If Byron Murphy II is as good as advertised, he would be the first truly elite draft pick in the trenches that Schneider has ever had on either side of the ball.

Of course, quarterback is one of the subplots for Schneider and the 2024 Seahawks. You may recall that this was a significant point of contention in the twilight of the Matt Hasselbeck era and wasn’t exactly resolved immediately. Schneider could have left Geno Smith and gone straight to Sam Howell and/or made a big trade for a quarterback. For now, Geno’s time is still on. Whatever you think of Geno, he has exceeded expectations, and even if he isn’t retained in 2025, his successor won’t inherit a bottom-tier roster… which isn’t too dissimilar to 2012. Maybe Sam Howell is the next young superstar in the making (I’m very skeptical of that), but either way, it looks like Schneider has once again maneuvered himself into a position to make sure it’s not a case of “find the quarterback and then build the rest of the roster” as is the norm for so many NFL teams.

Carroll’s departure doesn’t mean he’s completely abandoning his philosophies, even though he and Schneider (and to some extent Macdonald) are opposites. However, this is Schneider’s chance to go his own way and have no doubts about his influence relative to Pete. Starting Sunday, we’ll see the Seahawks’ present and future: John’s Way.