Why Russell Wilson is still meaningful to the Seahawks in 2022

We can pretend to care about Russell Wilson, right Seahawks fans? But he has been part of our favorite team’s DNA for too long now. It’s too hard to let go so easily and probably a bit of an untruth if you say you can.

That said, that doesn’t mean we all remember Wilson fondly. He is doing a lot of the same things with his new team the Denver Broncos this year that drove 12s insane. This includes taking bad sacks and holding on to the ball too long. And the last couple of years, not being the wizard in the fourth quarter that he once was.

But Wilson still matters to the Seahawks in 2022. Maybe not in 2023 but this year, he definitely does. The reasons are simple.

But I would be remiss if I somehow didn’t mention just how sneaky great it feels that Geno Smith is doing so well for Seattle this year. Wilson left, Geno stayed and the Seahawks are better off for it and the Broncos would be better had that gotten Geno instead of Wilson. And not just for now but for years to come.

Russell Wilson still has real meaning for the Seahawks this year

Wilson is going to get paid a lot in future years for Denver and his skills seem to be diminishing. He has good receivers but he wants to be something he isn’t. That is, he wants to be a quarterback that throws a lot and wins games like Aaron Rodgers but this is never who Wilson should have been and isn’t what made him great. But had Wilson stayed in Seattle, he would have gotten an extension that would have wrecked Seattle for many years to come.

Let’s also give some due to coach and Vice President of Football Operations Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider. Maybe they know more about football and the running of a team than many 12s want to admit. Are they perfect? No, as no one is. But Seattle has been far too competitive with them at the helm for people to be so dismissive of their leadership.

Russell Wilson was, however, the best quarterback in franchise history. To see him play in a different uniform is weird. But if we were being honest, many of us are probably happy his new team isn’t doing well. Wilson wanted out of Seattle and it’s OK to feel a little jilted. The Seahawks were mostly good with Wilson but Wilson seems to not remember that the team wasn’t only good because of him.

This leads me to the last and most important point. Whatever happens in 2023 is fine. But in 2022, Russell Wilson needs to keep failing. This is his true importance to the future of the Seahawks. Seattle wasn’t expected to be great this year and they probably have already exceeded the expectations of many pundits.

But the Broncos were supposed to be good and so far they aren’t their schedule is brutal in their last six games. Denver is 2-4 and could finish with double-digit losses. If they do, great for the Seahawks because that means Denver’s 2023 first-round pick and the Broncos second-round pick (which Seattle picked up from Denver in the trade that sent Wilson to them) are going to be higher than expected.

The Seahawks are in the midst of what is hopefully a quick rebuild. The Seattle rookies this year are making it seem like the team is going to be better sooner and good for a long period of time. But Russell Wilson’s failure in 2022 would only help the team he left and help them well into the future. This is why Russell Wilson is still important to the Seahawks in 2022.