By now, it’s well known that there’s a rift between the Seattle Seahawks and star quarterback Russell Wilson. He’s not happy about the direction of the organization and is being largely left out of player personnel decisions with head coach Pete Carroll acting the part of a CEO.
In turn, the Seahawks are not happy that Wilson made his issues with the organization public record earlier in the offseason. There’s a chance that this could be headed for a shocking divorce.
More recently, rumors have linked Seattle to its former star cornerback Richard Sherman in free agency. The idea would be for the two to reunite with Seattle in need of help in the defensive secondary.
Apparently, the Seattle Seahawks have a motivation for letting the Sherman rumors float about. To say it’s interesting would be an understatement.
“While there’s a chance everyone involved is ready to let bygones be bygones, one league source tells PFT that the Seahawks are allowing the flirtation to be fueled as both a jab at Wilson’s current discontent — and as a reminder that the team weeded out those players (like Sherman) who had a problem with the way Wilson was treated by management,” Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported recently.
Well, isn’t that something? It was just a few years ago that the Seahawks seemed to be headed in the direction of a dynasty. Wilson was doing his thing on offense while the Sherman-led Legion of Boom secondary dominated opposing teams.
That took a dramatic turn after a late-game interception on the goal line by Wilson against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX. After that loss, Seattle has not made it to as much as an NFC Championship Game in six seasons.
Sherman and Earl Thomas departed on sour terms. Wilson is one of the last remaining remnants of those glory years. He also apparently didn’t have a great relationship with Sherman and Co.
“Yeah, I’ve also seen him throw five picks in a game, so you see what he’s capable of on both sides of it,” Sherman told reporters when he was a member of the 49ers back in 2018. “You understand that he can be defended.”
This could be an obvious backdrop to rumors suggesting that there’s mutual interest between Sherman and the Seattle Seahawks. In fact, they don’t seem to have the money to land him after opting to move on from a star defender recently.
What does this mean for Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks?
Just recently, Seattle turned down a huge trade offer from Chicago for Russell Wilson. It included a whopping three first-round picks and two starter-caliber players on defense. Given the moves we’ve seen from Chicago in recent days, it’s easy to assume that said players were Pro Bowlers Akiem Hicks and Kyle Fuller.
This seems to suggest that Seattle is not even willing to trade Wilson, no matter that bounty it would receive in a blockbuster deal. Regardless, it appears that things are not returning to normal between the Super Bowl quarterback and his organization.
At the very least, it’s something to watch with the 2021 NFL Draft approaching. Any potential Russell Wilson trade would likely have to happen before then. If not, drama could be the name of the game in the Pacific Northwest moving forward.
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