The situation between the Seahawks and quarterback Russell Wilson has escalated quickly, with Wilson clearly not happy and with the team reportedly not happy that Wilson is displaying his unhappiness in a public setting.
So where does it go from here?
Wilson apparently has not yet asked for a trade, but it could be moving in that direction. Former teammate Brandon Marshall has said that Wilson wants out, but that he’s trying to find a “classy way” to do it. While classiness is in the eye of those who will, or won’t, be alienated by Wilson’s power play, Wilson seems to be building a case for asking to be moved. And if his effort to build that case makes the Seahawks want to move on from him, so be it.
Consider Wilson’s words from a new GQ interview, featuring both Wilson and his wife, Ciara. The discussion focuses primarily on marriage and family, but Wilson offered some quotes after his team’s season abruptly ended with a home playoff loss to the Rams.
“It’s unfortunate,” Wilson told Zach Baron. “We had a great year, did a lot of good things, broke some cool records and stuff like that, but the whole point of doing it all is to win it all, so, you know, if you’re second, you’re last.”
Baron then asked Wilson to explain the next move when “a life built around perfection and winning doesn’t yield perfection.”
“You have to be able to accept the challenges and the tough times, too, because it really catapults you to the best version of you,” Wilson said. “And I really, fundamentally believe that. I think that any great artist, or painter, or inventor, or leader, or creator, or anybody, it’s not usually the first attempt.”
The phrase “first attempt” can be taken multiple ways. The nine seasons with the Seahawks ultimately could be regarded as Wilson’s “first attempt” to win more than one championship. The “second attempt” could come somewhere else.
Wilson has indeed been successful in Seattle. He has the most wins in league history in his first nine years. However, he hasn’t been past the divisional round since 2014. And he has been sacked more times than any player in the first nine years of his career, with 394.
Is it sustainable in Seattle?
As the temperature increases, it becomes important to know who will be making the big decisions about Wilson’s future in Seattle. Owner Jody Allen, who inherited the team from her late brother, Paul, keeps an even lower profile than he did. Will she make the call? Will she delegate it to coach Pete Carroll?
It’s quickly becoming one of the most important decisions the franchise ever has faced. If Wilson has become determined to eventually move on, should the Seahawks do it now or later? What should they want for Wilson? Should they take a $39 million cap charge by trading him before June 1, or should they make it a June 2 transaction, keeping the 2021 cap charge at $13 million and pushing the extra $26 million to 2022?
However it plays out, the Seahawks currently have a mess on their hands. They can pretend they don’t and hope for the best, or they can seize the opportunity to send one of the best quarterbacks in football to a new city and a new team, with at least three first-round picks as the likely price for inheriting his current and future contract.