The Seattle Seahawks will continue to listen to trade proposals for Richard Sherman, if any come their way, but the team doesn't anticipate moving their All-Pro cornerback.
"Right now, I don't think the odds (of a trade) are very good," general manager John Schneider told KIRO-AM in Seattle on Thursday, via ESPN.com. "But if somebody comes cruising along and something happens, and we do something, it happens."
Schneider reiterated that the team has been in contact with Sherman about the process. He added that the main reason the Seahawks would consider parting ways with one of the best corners in the NFL during their Super Bowl window would be to free up salary-cap space.
"We have constant communication with him. I talked to him this evening," Schneider said. "So it's cool. Everything's fine. I just think that the only reason we would do it is to basically create some cap room and try to become a younger football team. But that's just one option."
Sherman turned 29 last month and will count more than $13 million against the salary cap each of the next two seasons. Jettisoning Sherman, still one of the team's best players, would be the ultimate "get rid of him one year too early than one too late" move.
When asked about the report that Sherman initiated the trade discussion, Schneider alluded that it was a mutual decision but didn't reject the notion that Sherman might be ready to move to another team.
"It's one of those things where the dialogue we have with our guys is not somebody comes bashing through the door like you would see in a football movie or something like, 'I demand to be traded!'" Schneider said. "It's not like that. It just doesn't work that way. The way I would answer it is we just have this dialogue with guys all the time, and I think he'd admit that he had a rough year. So he's looking for maybe a new spark, and he's either going to find that here in Seattle or he's going to find it somewhere else. But odds are he's going to find it here."
Sherman entered the NFL as the ultimate chip-on-shoulder player. If he's lost some motivation after finding success, this offseason's discussions about his worth, play and ranking among corners should sharpen any dulled edge.