Well, well, well. Here we are. We have reached the apex of this Russell Wilson drama after a juicy article was put it out on The Athletic yesterday that included some juicy details regarding the off the field drama surrounding the quarterback and the franchise. Here is the link to the article https://theathletic.com/2409212/2021/02/25/russell-wilson-trade-seahawks/. It is a very solid piece that is written by some great journalists.

There was a lot of news, some old, some new, and some older but with a new twist. One of the bigger pieces of news was that there are three teams out there that are the favorites for Wilson to be traded to. Those three teams were the Raiders, Dolphins and Jets. Since then a new report has come out reporting that Wilson’s agent Mark Rodgers put out four teams that Wilson would be willing to traded to. Those are the Cowboys, Raiders, Dolphins or the Bears.

The destination teams are changing, but some have stayed in the mix. But just knowing that there has been multiple reports, and even a report of Wilson’s agent putting teams out there, there has to be some sort of truth to all of this. But does that mean the trade will happen, and should it?

The answer to should the trade happen is absolutely not. Unless teams are going to offer a ridiculous ransom (that means at least 5 first rounders and a player in return) no franchise should ever trade away a future Hall of Famer at the most important position on the football field, and that is what the Seahawks have in Wilson.

Will the trade happen? I also think no, just because the return back is pretty astronomical for any team to give up and the money involved is not an easy number to work with. Does Wilson want to it happen? Who knows. But one thing I do know is trading away a franchise quarterback would be disastrous for many reasons. For starters draft picks are not always going to pan out.

Drafting in the NFL is not a science. There is a lot of luck, and drafting Wilson with the 75^th pick overall proved that. Yes, the Seahawks and a lot of other teams did like Wilson, but he wasn’t a sure thing. If he was he wouldn’t have been there at 75. Luckily Pete Carroll and John Schneider pulled the trigger on drafting him, and here we are eight years later with a Super Bowl victory, and multiple passing records.

With Wilson’s success came power, and with power came the want for more respect and responsibility in the organizations roster decisions and scheme. Another vital piece of news that came out of this article was indicative of this. As reported on The Athletic, Wilson met with coaches and staff to discuss strategy. His opinions were met with dismissal and Wilson “stormed out of the meeting”.

This brings us to another key player in this entire saga, and someone who I have mentioned already, that would be head coach Pete Carroll. Carroll puts off very positive vibes in all of his press conferences, social media and wherever else you see or hear him. I’m not saying he’s not some lucky-go happy type of guy, but one thing that I think he truly is, is stubborn. When you think about it though it’s not necessarily shocking that a head coach of an NFL team is stubborn.

But at some point there has to be some middle ground between a great head coach, and a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Carroll has to understand that his offensive mentality of run, and play action is not going to work without a suitable offensive line.

Now Wilson has to understand that ultimately decisions will come down to the coaching staff, Schneider and Carroll, but he also has to feel like his opinion is being respected by the same people. It can be a thin line to tip toe on trying to do that but the best coaches and general managers have been able to just that.

Another facet to the coaching is Carroll’s stubbornness to adapt and adjust. He seems to have a hard time understanding that he doesn’t have Marshawn Lynch running the ball anymore behind players like Russell Okung, Max Unger and other very solid previous offensive linemen . That’s no slight to Chris Carson who runs almost just as hard as Lynch, but there have been durability concerns and behind Carson the depth at the running back position has been relatively weak.

We all know that offensive units and defensive units are semi-dependent on each other in the NFL. A large part of Carroll’s game plan to rely on the run and play action, was also dependent on having a defense that could create turnovers and hold offenses to field goals. At the beginning the 2020 season that was not true at all, and towards the end the defense was playing well, but still not creating turnovers. Carroll has to realize that he doesn’t have the talent anymore to keep this strategy up.

That is what the best coaches do, they adjust their game plans to what fits their roster best. But Carroll hasn’t done that at all, and it has shown. This team hasn’t lacked regular season wins at all, but when it comes to playoff success the Seahawks don’t have much to show for it in the last five seasons, which are Wilson’s prime seasons and that’s a damn shame.

There is a lot more to story that honestly, just makes me point the metaphorical finger towards Carroll more and more. The nepotism of having both of his sons on the staff, and supposedly having them being the only ones on the staff to hold him accountable wasn’t a great look. The recent draft classes and free agent signings have been pretty poor. The list could go on, but there is no need to keep going.

Carroll won’t be fired, and he shouldn’t be fired, yet. But he does need to figure this out. It is a fluid situation that is going to take some adapting and evolving by him not only on the field, but off.