Seahawks' Pete Carroll addresses Russell Wilson reportedly trying to get him fired

Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has responded to a report that claimed Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson wanted Carroll and Seattle general manager John Schneider fired last winter.

"My response to that is a similar response that’s always been with the guys that I’ve coached," Carroll said at the combine on Tuesday, per Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk and Jeff Legwold of ESPN. "I’m always going to hang with them, and I’m never going to leave them. I’m going to be there at the end, with all of the good stuff and all of the bad stuff. I’m going to still be there. That’s it. I’m hanging. It doesn’t matter who the guy is." 

Carroll added: "I like to demonstrate that faith in the relationship and the depth of what we did together and hang through whatever the growth challenges bring along the way, so I’m good." 

Carroll didn't deny the Wilson story. 

Back in June 2021, Wilson denied requesting a trade earlier that offseason and then publicly joked that he and Carroll were "still friends." In December of that year, the one-time Super Bowl champion suggested he wanted to remain in Seattle. 

However, Kalyn Kahler, Mike Sando and Jayson Jenks of The Athletic reported last week that "Wilson asked Seahawks ownership to fire both" Carroll and Schneider in February 2022, in part so that Seattle could replace Carroll with former New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton. The Seahawks instead traded Wilson to Denver last March. 

Wilson reportedly recruited Payton this winter, and Payton officially took over as Denver head coach earlier this month. 

"I don't think you can come up with a guy better coaching quarterbacks than Sean,'' Carroll said about Wilson's new coach. "He's proven that. He's had such tremendous success...he's got a great play-caller mentality to him...they're very fortunate to have him.''

Along with playing poorly during a season to forget, Wilson allegedly lost some members of the locker room during his first year with Denver. Payton may now be tasked with keeping Wilson in check after the signal-caller apparently rubbed some within multiple organizations the wrong way.