Russell Wilson remains in Seattle, and things appear hunky-dory between the star quarterback and his team.
Wilson publicly expressed frustration after last season, prompting questions about his future. The drama heated up after Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, listed four teams for which Wilson would waive his no-trade clause.
The Seahawks put any trade talk to bed in March by refusing even to engage with the Bears in their “aggressive pursuit” of Wilson.
In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show on Friday, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll again downplayed the headline news from earlier this offseason, calling it “old news.”
“It seems like really old news to talk about this because it’s been such a long time,” Carroll said. “The little bit he said carried so much air time that it became bigger than life. Throughout the whole process, Russell, we’ve always been connected. We’ve always been talking. We’ve never not been in communication, and we weren’t at all in this time either. A couple things that came out got magnified and the questions came out, and there was a couple things. He was frustrated when he was talking, just like any of us can sometimes emphasize something that’s on the top of our mind, and it can be played differently than it really played itself out.
“We’ve had a really good offseason of working, and there was an ongoing media discussion that I did not take part in, [General Manager] John [Schneider] and I did not, we refused to be party to that, and Russ did what he could once he saw it happening, to stay as quiet as he could because it was going to play and have a life of its own anyway. What it amounted to was I think a refocusing, making sure that we were on the same page, making sure that we were clear so that we could withstand any of the scrutiny that would come towards us, and we did that.”
It’s been a minute since Wilson last spoke publicly, but Carroll told Eisen that Wilson can’t wait to play another season in Seattle.
“He is fired up about his team,” Carroll said. “He’s fired up about his coaching staff. He’s fired up about the season coming up.”
The team’s postseason failures surely have driven the discontent. Since back-to-back Super Bowl appearances in 2013-14, the Seahawks are only 3-5 in the playoffs since 2015, failing to get beyond the divisional round.