The Seattle Seahawks granted Russell Wilson his wish and traded him to the Denver Broncos this offseason. Head coach Pete Carroll was sad to see his longtime field general depart, and was selfishly hoping the nine-time Pro Bowl would have a change of heart. Carroll, during an appearance on Seattle Sports 710 Radio, revealed that he had tried to convince Wilson to stay, fighting to keep his QB in town until fully certain that his efforts were futile.
Pete Carroll says on @SEASports710 that upon hearing from Russ that he wanted out, the coach tried to convince the QB to stay around. Says there were compelling reasons to stay. Pete says he fought for those reasons — until his efforts were futile.
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) March 22, 2022
Carroll didn't hide the fact that he was pushing for Russ to return to the Seahawks up until the final decision came through, and revealed the means by which he tried to convince Wilson to stay with the team that drafted him.
Article Continues Below“There was so much compelling reasoning why he would stay because of all the history and all the time spent,” Carroll said. “That was exactly where I was coming from, just to use the logic of it. When you've built a relationship over a long period of time, there's great benefits to that moving forward and well beyond your career and stuff. Those are all parts of the conversation.”
Unfortunately, despite his conversations with Wilson, his pitches to retain the star QB proved futile. Carroll clearly believed in his reasoning for Wilson to stay, but it appears that it wasn't enough to change his mind. Russ ultimately got his wish and was traded to the Broncos in exchange for a haul of players and draft picks, including Drew Lock, Noah Fant, and Shelby Harris.