The Seattle Seahawks traded Super-Bowl winning quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos for an impressive haul of players and draft picks. Wilson's departure is the end of an era in Seattle, as the star quarterback spent each of his 10 seasons in the league with the Seahawks, making nine Pro Bowls and winning a Super Bowl title. Seattle enjoyed a fair amount of success with Wilson under center, but there's a feeling that they could have accomplished more. It feels like the Seahawks didn't do enough to maximize the star quarterback's talents, thus damaging their relationship beyond repair with Wilson. In fact, Wilson reportedly wanted to move on from the team in a divorce-like scenario. There's a reason that the ex-Seahawks signal-caller felt that way. Seattle could have done more to appease Wilson. Here are two specific areas where the franchise failed Wilson, leading eventually to this trade.
2 Seahawks' Failures That Led To Russell Wilson Trade
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2. Reluctance to ‘Let Russ Cook'
One glance at Russell Wilson's numbers is enough to tell that he is an elite NFL quarterback. Wilson is accurate, having completed 65 percent of his passes for his career. In 10 seasons, Wilson has thrown for 25 or more touchdown passes eight times. He's been incredibly consistent over his career, posting a QBR below 60 just twice in his career. However, there's one statistic where Wilson hasn't been very good- and it's the Seahawks' fault. Passing attempts. Not including 2021's season shortened due to injury, Wilson has placed in the top-10 of the league in passing attempts just two times. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is known for his defensive and run-the-ball mentality, but such a philosophy wasn't exactly tailored to the strengths of his quarterback, who is every bit as good any signal-caller in the league. Consider this. There are four quarterbacks in the history of the league who have a career passer rating above 100- Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson. The Seahawks legitimately had one of the best quarterbacks of all time on their team and continued to hand the ball off play-after-play rather than designing a more pass-heavy offense, which they seemingly reluctantly did towards the end of Wilson's tenure- for the star signal-caller. It's something that likely contributed to Wilson seeking to play elsewhere.
1. Failure to build a capable offensive line
This is one area where the Seahawks completely failed Russell Wilson. In 10 seasons, Wilson has been sacked less than 40 times just twice- and he missed two games in one of those seasons. Wilson was sacked 45 or more times in a season four times. Four times! Among quarterbacks all time, the ex-Seahawks star has been sacked the 14th-most times. It's incredible that Wilson had appeared in all 16 games for nine years in a row given the yearly beating his body had taken. It got so bad that at one point, Wilson even came right out and said that he was “tired of getting hit.” That should have been the Seahawks' 500th clue that they needed to improve their offensive line. Seattle drafted an offensive lineman in the first round just once while Wilson was there and consistently failed to bring in difference-making talent on the line, something that certainly led to the damaged relationship and Wilson trade. Wilson had a fantastic Seahawks career. But it could have been so much better.
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