Seattle Seahawks undergoing a complete sea change in 2022

The Seahawks have traded Russell Wilson and will release Bobby Wagner. If that doesn’t define a transformation, nothing does. There’s really only one question to ask: is this a rebirth or a requiem?

We here at 12thManRising will write dozens of articles positing hundreds of questions over the next days, weeks, and months. We and every other site that covers our beloved Seahawks. We’ve already begun asking questions like, did the Hawks win the deal?  We all want to know if Drew Lock will really be the guy under center in the first game of the new season? How important is it that lineman Shelby Harris was part of the deal?

For my part, I’ll answer maybe, gosh I hope not, and very. Maybe the Seahawks won the deal. It all depends on if Pete Carroll and John Schneider use those picks to draft players like Jordyn Brooks or if their picks turn in careers like L.J. Collier. Drew Lock hasn’t exactly lit the league on fire in his three seasons in Denver, but I’ll revisit that issue another time. As for Harris, he had seven sacks and could truly help the Hawks reinvent their defense, something sorely needed.

The big question for the Seahawks remains

Those and dozens more questions will be asked and answered, not just here, of course. I’ll have plenty of answers myself, probably none wiser than “The Hawks have zero motivation to trade Russell Wilson.” Yes, that’s just one of my greatest hits. Sadly, it looks like I hit the mark when it came to the future of Bobby Wagner in Seattle. I think seeing BWagz get released depresses me more than the departure of DangeRuss. Multiple reports state the Seahawks are open to trading Tyler Lockett, something we’ve already discussed here as well.

But the big question, the only one that truly matters, remains. Do these cataclysmic changes signal a rebirth of the Seahawks, or are they the first peals of the funeral bells for the success of the franchise? Yes, that’s more than a tad bit dramatic, especially considering the events playing out halfway around the world. But we are all 12s here, and the Hawks are a big part of our world.

In the end, it’s just sport; it isn’t life or death. But it does matter, if only as a distraction from the bigger issues in our world. When your team trades the best quarterback in its history and releases the best linebacker in its history, that’s startling. When those events happen in the same season fast on the heels of a losing season, that’s staggering. In Seattle, it’s literally a sea change.

We’ll never know if the Hawks could have revitalized the franchise by keeping Wilson and Wagner, and whoever else they send packing (please oh please not Tyler). There’s a good chance we won’t even know by the end of the 2023 season if Pete and John made the right moves. But I’ll tell you this, 12s; I’m all in for the ride.