A report six weeks ago indicated the Bears made an “aggressive pursuit” of Russell Wilson, but the Seahawks told them they weren’t trading their star quarterback. That followed Wilson’s agent publicly providing a list of four teams -- the Bears, Cowboys, Raiders and Saints -- for whom Wilson would waive his no-trade clause.
The Seahawks received calls from teams, General Manager John Schneider admitted Wednesday, but were not looking to trade Wilson.
“You know there was a number of teams that called after that media blitz that happened,” Schneider said. “But, no, I never actively negotiated with anybody, and with any team now. Did people call? Absolutely. I’m not going to get into specific teams.
“But no, there was never, ever a conversation you know people think that trade talks happen, you know like, hey, you just start negotiating right away. There’s a lot of calls that are very, very periphery calls, and unless you know you’re dealing with, like, trading a seventh-round pick for a player that may be getting cut or something like that, those happen very quickly. But, no, there was no active negotiations going on.”
Coach Pete Carroll said the Seahawks expect Wilson to remain their quarterback “for a good while.”
The story blew up, and Wilson’s future became in doubt, when Wilson expressed his frustrations after the season. The Seahawks did their best Wednesday to make clear they believe Wilson’s present and future employment is in Seattle.
But it’s unclear whether Wilson now shares those same feelings.
“The truth is: He wasn’t getting traded,” Carroll said. “He’s on our roster, and he’s signed up for a long time around here, and anything that could ever take place was so far out there that could ever happen, it was not even worth considering. Unfortunately, that’s kind of how it went.”