"Russell Wilson lost the trust of the Seahawks locker room"- NFL insiders hint at rift between QB and teammates
Russell Wilson spent the early part of the offseason constantly talking about how he wanted to return to the Seattle Seahawks. So it's fair to say fans were caught off guard when news dropped this week that he was traded to the Denver Broncos. Pete Carroll was saying the same thing, so someone wasn't telling the truth.
ESPN analysts Bomani Jones and Dominique Foxworth recently discussed this matter, and both had interesting takes. In fact, they seemed to agree that the locker room had given up on the quarterback. Foxworth went so far as to say the situation has been a mess ever since Wilson's infamous interception in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.
"And now it feels like Russell feels like he doesn't have the power that comes with the respect that they gave him early in his career. And so he's out like, that's what it seems like to me because it comes down to him wanting to play his style of football, whatever that is. I don't know that he's ever really discovered it. But it ain't what Pete Carroll is doing. And that's what it seems like the major issue was, was getting up out from under Pete Carroll's idea of what football is. And that team has not been well-constructed since they threw that interception in the Super Bowl."
It's possible the quarterback went into the situation making demands and the team sent him packing. That is a tough fall from grace for someone who won a Super Bowl so early in their career.
Russell Wilson was always in a tough spot
Jones stated that the defense, known as the Legion of Boom, seemed to not get along with the quarterback, especially after their Super Bowl loss.
"And I'd be very curious to know how Sherman and the LOB guys feel about this, because they felt that the organization had done far too much to coddle Russell Wilson, which did not make him the most liked guy on his old team. And I wonder if he looked up one day and it was like 'Yo, nobody here seems to really rock with me.'"
Jones brings up the idea that Richard Sherman and others may have had Wilson's leadership fall on deaf ears. If they felt he was coddled, as Jones says, they ended up taking more blame for anything that went wrong.
It is 8:23 p.m. MT on Friday, March 11, and Russell Wilson plays for the Denver #Broncos.
Unreal. Unfreakingreal.
The interception to Malcolm Butler ended a potential dynasty in Seattle. It may have also ended any shot Wilson had at becoming the next Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, where he would carry power within the organization.
Also Read: "Extremely irresponsible" - NFL fans blast Adam Schefter for 'poorly worded' Deshaun Watson