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Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks have busy day without making a pick in NFL Draft

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, left, and general manager John Schneider talk during an NFL football rookie minicamp workout last year. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Bob Condotta Seattle Times

On the first day of the NFL Draft, the Seahawks made two trades and no picks, acquired three extra selections and kept Richard Sherman.

To which Seattle general manager John Schneider said “sorry guys’’ to the assembled media after the first round was over, apologizing for what he sensed might have been disappointment in the fact that the team hadn’t actually added a new player to the roster.

The two trades to move down and acquire more picks, though, sets up what could be a potentially transformative day for Seattle as the draft resumes with rounds two and three Friday at 4 p.m.

Seattle used trades with Atlanta and the 49ers to acquire one extra second-round pick, one extra third-rounder and another in the seventh, giving the Seahawks 10 picks overall after they had entered the draft with just seven – the fewest since Schneider took over as GM in 2010.

And it means Seattle will have six picks to make Friday – barring any more moves – all from 34 to 111 in the second and third rounds.

“It’s going to be fun,’’ Schneider said.

Seattle entered the day with the No 26 overall pick in the first round but right as the 10-minute deadline to make the pick neared, traded it to the Atlanta Falcons, coached by former Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, swapping first-round picks (Seattle got Atlanta’s at 31 in exchange for Seattle’s at 26) with the Seahawks then also getting Atlanta’s third-round pick, No. 95, and the Falcons’ seventh, No. 249 overall.

The Seahawks then dealt the No. 31 pick to the 49ers, getting San Francisco’s second-round pick, No. 34 overall, as well as the 49ers’ fourth-rounder, No. 111 overall — a pick that the 49ers had earlier acquired from Chicago.

Essentially, Seattle moved down eight spots in the draft to acquire three additional picks.

The two trades capped a busying round of phone calls — Schneider said the team had other offers, particularly when it made the trade with the Falcons.

“We had a couple things going right there, with a couple teams,’’ Schneider said. “Atlanta just made the most sense. It was the closest to us.”