Why Russell Wilson will spend his entire career with the Seahawks
By Andy Excell
The speculation about a Russell Wilson trade from the Seahawks this offseason has been relentless. All off the back of some understandable frustration at the Seahawks collective failure to go deep into the playoffs.
In my opinion, part of this is Wilson’s mentally dealing with his own failings at the end of the 2020 regular season by bringing attention to the failure of his offensive line to provide adequate protection.
Whilst he does have a point to a degree, the offensive line is not as bad as it has been portrayed as a result of Wilson’s comments. Just because somebody expresses frustration does not mean they want out though.
Russell Wilson is going to be with the Seahawks forever
Media frenzy
What this is more a manifestation of is the insatiable desire for a 24-hour media industry and the wonderful world of social media needing something to feed off whilst no football is being played. It has been noticeable that after his initial public declaration of dissatisfaction with some elements of the Seahawks roster, Wilson had gone quiet and kept his won counsel.
This was aligned with the Seahawks hierarchy’s policy of saying nothing publicly and allowing the speculation to remain just that. Just in the last week or so, Pete Carroll has made public comments stating that he and Wilson were in constant communication with each other throughout this period of media speculation and there was never any prospect of Wilson leaving.
If Wilson really felt that his prospects of adding to his NFL career legacy were better away from Seattle he would have made it happen.
After all the Seahawks have made the playoffs in eight of the nine seasons Wilson has been in the NFL. Only one franchise has equaled these eight appearances since 2012, the New England Patriots.
Whilst Wilson has been a huge part of achieving this, it has not been entirely down to him and the Seahawks have provided him with a roster capable of this level of performance year after year. So why would he go elsewhere?