By the time the on-field events at the NFL Scouting Combine began, Seahawks GM John Schneider had already left Indianapolis and returned to team headquarters to continue their offseason work on free agency and the NFL Draft.

This is part of a new approach to the scouting combine for Seattle’s longtime general manager, who is gearing up for his 17th draft with the Seahawks. Schneider last week recalled a conversation from the 2025 combine with Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht, who asked, “When you’re at the dome, do you watch the TV, or do you watch the field?” Schneider replied that, even though the workouts at Lucas Oil Stadium are happening in front of him, he typically watches them on the television broadcast. So, Schneider decided to watch them from his office.

Teams in recent years have adopted different approaches to the largest scouting event of the offseason. For years, Schneider brought his front office staff, and Pete Carroll did the same with his coaching staff. Other teams have started bringing much smaller contingents without sending either the general manager or head coach. Mike Macdonald skipped the 2024 scouting combine due to the timing of his hire. He brought his staff with him in 2025.

Both Schneider and Macdonald attended this year’s scouting combine with their respective staff. Macdonald left Thursday evening. Schneider was gone by then, too.

“Met with all the agents we wanted to meet with, got through all the media stuff (and) the league stuff we needed to do,” Schneider said Thursday on his Seattle Sports radio show. “All the guys did a great job down there, all the scouts getting all the interviews done; we record all that stuff. Quite honestly, it was a nice afternoon in the draft room by myself feeling like I’m getting caught up a little bit and watching (the combine) on TV.”

The Seahawks still see value in face-to-face meetings with some of the prospects, and they like to observe how they interact with other players on the field and respond to coaching during drills. Schneider and his staff also believe that much of scouting during the pre-draft process is individualized. The Seahawks receive so many data points between game film, all-star game practices, medical information analytics and scouting reports from the personnel folks who visit the schools — often multiple schools in the age of the transfer portal — that the scouting combine ends up having varying degrees of value depending on the situation.

The drills just end up being another data point. Sometimes the on-field workouts are eye-popping, like when 6-foot-3 defensive back Nick Emmanwori ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds at 220 pounds last spring. But even then, the film still needed to support what they saw in drills. Then they brought Emmanwori to Seattle for a visit, which went well and was further confirmation he was their type of guy.

But for the most part, Schneider’s time is better spent canvassing the free-agent landscape and the trade market.

“The combine has become a little bit more about free agency and trades and what the spring is going to look like,” Schneider said during his podium session on Tuesday. “The medical portion is huge for us. Then all the interviews, the character, the person, it all just kind of starts building.”

With that in mind, here are some of the other notes and nuggets I gathered after four days in Indianapolis.

• Retaining Ken Walker III may require a legitimate bidding war. The top running backs tend to find common ground on big-money extensions with their teams, but it can be harder for running backs to break the bank when switching clubs. However, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Josh Jacobs are recent examples of players securing decent deals while finding new homes.

Walker picked the perfect time to have the best season of his career. He played in all 17 regular-season games for the first time, and when given the lead role in the playoffs, he recorded 417 scrimmage yards and four touchdowns in three games and capped it with a Super Bowl MVP trophy. Walker will turn 26 in October.

His injury history could give some suitors pause, but I get the sense he’ll have options on the open market. And it shouldn’t just be a scenario in which Walker has to choose between taking a lucrative deal from a struggling squad versus a team-friendly contract to run it back with the Seahawks. Playoff teams — or those who were on the cusp last season — will have interest in adding an explosive young player like Walker to their backfield.

The cost of using the transition tag — which would mean no compensation for Seattle if it declined to match a contract offer — would be $11.3 million. That is in the ballpark of the average annual salary on the contract extensions signed last offseason by Buffalo’s James Cook ($11.5 million) and the Rams’ Kyren Williams ($11 million). Schneider doesn’t like tagging players, but an eight-figure salary in that range could be what it takes to have Walker’s services for the 2026 season.

• On Wednesday, Macdonald was asked about the feasibility of retaining all the members of his secondary currently scheduled to become unrestricted free agents: Riq Woolen, Coby Bryant and Josh Jobe (Ty Okada is an exclusive rights free agent, capable of re-signing on a minimum salary).

“I think there’s things you’re going to have to work through, but I think it’s possible, yeah,” Macdonald said.

Macdonald is correct that it’s possible to keep the secondary intact. Seattle has $59.5 million in salary-cap space, which is sixth most in the league (all salary data provided by Over the Cap unless stated otherwise). With some creative accounting, Seattle can re-sign nearly all its starters, especially if they’re on multiyear deals.

For instance, inside linebacker Ernest Jones IV signed a three-year, $28.5 million contract last offseason, but his 2025 cap number accounted for just 1.8 percent of the overall pie. Seattle did this primarily by making Jones’ Year 1 base salary just $2.1 million (backloading the deal, basically).

Left tackle Charles Cross’ four-year, $104.4 million extension has multiple void years to mitigate the immediate impact of the salary bump by spreading out the signing bonus proration. His 2026 base salary is just $1.6 million, and his $10.8 million cap hit is only 3.5 percent of the pie (big-money extensions for cornerback Devon Witherspoon and receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba would likely be structured this way as well).

My sense is that the main impediment to retaining everyone in the secondary would be Woolen’s market. He’s the No. 26 player on The Athletic’s list of the top free agents and the second-ranked cornerback behind New Orleans’ Alontae Taylor. Woolen has fallen out of favor a couple of times, but given how many teams struggled on defense this year due to their lack of competent cornerback play, Woolen, much like Walker, should have multiple suitors.

• On Tuesday, Schneider said “not yet” when asked whether he has a good feel for the safety market. “That ends up happening at the end of the week,” he said, referring to meetings that assistant general manager Nolan Teasley and vice president of football administration Joey Laine would have in Indianapolis.

Tre’von Moehrig ($17 million per year), Jevon Holland ($15.1 million), Cam Bynum ($15 million) and Talanoa Hufanga ($13 million) got paid when signing with new clubs last offseason. Those four and the Rams’ Quentin Lake, who re-signed on a three-year, $38.2 million deal during the season, feel like relevant names for Bryant, who hasn’t made the Pro Bowl or any All-Pro teams but is an underrated player in Seattle’s defense because of how often he’s not targeted deep down the field.

Bryant is the No. 4 safety on The Athletic’s free-agent list behind Kevin Byard, Kam Curl and Bryan Cook (Jalen Thompson and Jaquan Brisker are other names to monitor). The projected salary for Bryant is $30 million over three years, though it wouldn’t surprise me if a bidding war bumps that average salary up a bit.

However, a complicating factor for this year’s class of veteran safeties is the 2026 draft class, which The Athletic’s Dane Brugler noted over the weekend is very deep. A strong safety class could make teams less willing to spend big on veterans.

“Best part is there are multiple safeties in every round worth getting excited about,” Brugler wrote. “Might see double-digit safeties go top-100.”

• On Feb. 23, ESPN reported that DeMarcus Lawrence could retire this offseason. Lawrence turns 34 in April and is under contract through 2027. Macdonald said Wednesday that he didn’t have any indication Lawrence or any of the players on the other side of 30 were going to retire. That list also includes Leonard Williams (32 when the season begins), Cooper Kupp (33) and Jarran Reed (33).

Speaking on Lawrence, Macdonald said: “Any time you’re in double-digit years, that’s one of those things you have to factor in. He hasn’t indicated anything to us that he’s not coming back.”

• The Seahawks had not yet received an invitation to the White House as of Wednesday afternoon, Macdonald said. He expects to receive one and when it comes, the team will decide whether to go. I’d be surprised if the team didn’t accept the invitation.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.