The Russell Wilson-Pete Carroll Seattle Seahawks spent several years atop the NFL. Five divisional championships, two conference titles and a Super Bowl XLVIII ring speak for themselves.
But the time has come for a split.
The Seahawks have started their 2021-22 NFL season with a 3-7 record, and Wilson has missed three games already with a busted finger. As things stand, this is the team’s worst first half of a season in 11 years. The last time it happened, then-head coach Jim Mora was fired and replaced with Carroll. Complicating matters further is Wilson’s reported desire to move on.
This past week, Michael-Shawn Dugar of The Athletic appeared on "Man 2 Man" podcast and revealed that the end was nigh for the Carroll-Wilson partnership.
“To be honest, I really thought it was over this offseason because Russ basically was like, ‘Look, if we’re not going to be competing for Super Bowls, I really don’t want to be here,’” he said.
“And I was like, you’re probably not going to be competing for one this year, so that means it’s over. …No, I didn’t think it’d be over in November. I thought maybe we’d at least get to January, some snow [would] be on the ground by the time it’s over. No, it’s over right now, today.
“There’s no reason to think that Pete and Russ and John can co-exist in this space going forward with the roles and the power each one has or does not have in Russ’ case or John’s case. You just can’t, this is done. This is a rap. Russ basically let it be known, ‘If we ain’t winning, I’m out.’ They ain’t winning, so somebody needs to be out. Maybe it’s Russ, maybe it’s Pete, maybe it’s John. Maybe it’s all three. That would actually be terrible to do that, but there’s no doubt. There’s no might, there’s no ambiguity. It’s over.”
It will be interesting to see where things go from here. Clearly Wilson wants out, as exemplified by the fact that he gets way more enthused talking about all the places he and Ciara have fun times than anything Seahawks-related.
But a trade involving someone of Wilson’s caliber is easier said than done. A lot of variables go into it, and it can be extremely complicated.
Will Seattle ultimately be able to get fair value for their star quarterback this offseason? Time will tell.
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