The Seattle Seahawks got decimated by injuries in 2021. The most pressing injury of them all was to their star quarterback Russell Wilson, who suffered a broken finger in Week 5. Wilson returned after missing only three games, but he clearly wasn't fully healthy, and the Seahawks stumbled to a 7-10 record.

It seemed like with a clean bill of health in 2022, the Seahawks could be a contender in this season. They had a lot of weapons around Wilson on offense, and while their defense wasn't what is once was, their offense was good enough to overcome that most of the time.

But then the Seahawks front office blew it all up this offseason, and they appear set for a pretty lengthy rebuild. Had they kept things in place, they could have bounced back in 2022, but instead, they prematurely blew things up, and are rebuilding as a result. For that reason, their two worst moves of the offseason involve moving on from two of their best players.

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Seattle Seahawks worst offseason moves

2. Releasing Bobby Wagner

From the moment he entered the league back in 2012, Bobby Wagner has been the best linebacker in the NFL. He is a tackling machine who is also incredibly instinctive in coverage and can blitz the quarterback when called upon as well. Wagner could have retired a couple of years ago and been a shoe-in for the Hall of Fame, but he is intent on adding to his legacy.

Unfortunately for Seattle, he won't be building his legacy with them anymore. Shortly after committing their worst move of the offseason (more on that in a moment), the Seahawks decided to release Wagner. Wagner carried a pretty significant cap hit, which was their justification for releasing him.

Freeing up some cap space makes sense, but to cut Wagner outright seemed a bit out of the blue. Wagner is still an incredibly valuable player, and definitely would have had some value on the trade market. They also could have tried to keep him in town to lead the defense given that he is still playing at an incredibly high level, but that wasn't on the table at this stage of the game apparantly.

Parting with high-level talent is almost always a loss, but losing Wagner for nothing but cap savings is a real waste. Wagner is probably the best linebacker of his generation, and Seattle simply cut him and moved on. Getting value in return for valuable players is always a smart thing to do, but they failed to do it when they cut Wagner this offseason.

1. Trading Russell Wilson

Star quarterbacks are hard to come across in the NFL. And if you don't have one on your roster, you are almost certainly not going to win much. The Seahawks had one in Russell Wilson, and decided to part ways with him this offseason.

It's not that the haul the Seahawks got for Wilson from the Denver Broncos was bad, because it wasn't. Seattle sent Wilson and a fourth-round pick to the Broncos in return for two first-round picks, two second-round picks, and a fifth-rounder. They also got some promising young players in quarterback Drew Lock and tight end Noah Fant, as well as veteran pass rusher Shelby Harris. That's a pretty decent return for Wilson considering he will turn 34 this upcoming season.

The problem is the Seahawks just let a franchise quarterback walk out the door on a team that still could have been a contender in 2022. The Seahawks were crushed by injuries last season, but that doesn't change the fact that they went 12-4 in 2020 with a fairly similar squad. They almost certainly could have bounced back in 2022 had everyone been able to stay healthy.

Instead, they have decided that it was time for a rebuild for whatever reason. That's what makes this move so bad for the Seahawks. Their Super Bowl window hadn't really closed in anyone else's eyes but their own. And as a result, they traded their star quarterback away, giving up on a team that very well could have been a winner in the process.

The Seahawks had a lot of issues on their roster heading into the offseason, but they could have been fixed had the front office wanted them to be fixed. Instead, they decided to get rid of two of their best players and rebuild instead.

It's not that these moves will hamper a rebuild, because they won't; in fact, they should significantly speed up the Seahawks rebuild. The problem is that these two moves turned a playoff contending team into a rebuilding team. Anytime you take away an opportunity to win is a mistake given how competitive the NFL is nowadays, and in that regard, the Seahawks made a pair of pretty sizeable mistakes by moving on from Bobby Wagner and Russell Wilson this offseason.