The Seattle Seahawks traded Russell Wilson and a fourth-round draft pick to the Denver Broncos on Tuesday.
In return, the team received something of a King’s Ransom: two first-rounders, two second-rounders, a fifth-rounder, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant.
Given how public Wilson had been not only about wanting out, but specifically where he wanted to go (he rejected two other trades before accepting this one), the haul was quite impressive.
With Wilson officially a Bronco, the one lingering question everyone has been trying to answer is: why’d he want out so badly?
What had gone wrong in Seattle?
This week former Seahawks tight end Greg Olsen appeared on The Colin Cowherd Podcast and revealed the real motivation behind Wilson’s desire to go elsewhere.
“I never thought they had a personnel issue,” Olsen told Cowherd.
“The conversations I would have with the coaches and the amount of pushback and the amount of questions I would get in return, saying ‘I’m not sure if we could do this. I’m not sure if we could protect this.’ I’d sit there scratching my head. It was like we were playing with a JV roster. It was like we were playing with a rookie undrafted quarterback. It was very interesting to me.
“The ideology there was always defense first, kicking game, punt the ball, field position, forced turnovers, and then hand the ball over to Russ at the end of the game and say, ‘Go be magic.’
“I just think it was part of Russell’s frustration. I think it’s why he said, ‘I want to go somewhere where this is going to be an offensive, quarterback-driven team every Sunday with the ball in my hand, like Aaron Rodgers.’”
If that’s the case, then it would certainly make sense why Wilson wanted out.
That said, Wilson is likely not totally blameless in all this. He was definitely partially responsible for what had happened between him and head coach Pete Carroll.
Moreover, the fact that Wilson’s Seahawks teammates were so openly tired of his nonsense is telling. Clearly they don’t entirely view him as a victim either.
In any case, this most recent trade lets everyone start anew.
Will Wilson be able to return to his old, MVP form in Denver with a brand new coaching staff?
Time will tell.
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