Wilson heading to the Broncos

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D-train
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by D-train » Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:27 pm

By Bob Condotta
Seattle Times staff reporter
On April 17, 2019, after signing a new four-year contract that made him the highest-paid player in the history of the NFL, Russell Wilson stood with his family at a celebratory news conference at the VMAC in Renton wearing a Sonics jacket and proclaiming “I want to be a Seahawk for life.”

“The guys I’ve always admired in sports, the guys that played at (their) locations for 15-20 years, guys like Derek Jeter, I want to be like that,” Wilson continued. “I want to be remembered in that sense of what we want to do here in Seattle. So we’re just getting started.”

On Wednesday at 9:04 a.m., less than three years later, Wilson tweeted his goodbye to Seattle, a day after his stunning trade to Denver.

“SEATTLE, I Love You. Forever Grateful. #3,” Wilson wrote.


So what changed?

Tuesday’s breakup — and that feels like the proper term because from a purely football standpoint trading a Hall of Fame quarterback still in his prime was never something the Seahawks wanted to do — was in retrospect many years in the making.

Some turning points in the fraying of the relationship between Wilson and the team now seem obvious:

— The loss to Dallas in the wild-card round following the 2018 season when Wilson’s camp bristled that the Seahawks took too long to deviate from a run-dominated game plan in a 24-22 defeat, proof, Wilson’s camp felt, that Pete Carroll would forever stay devoted to winning through a running game and defense.

— Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, giving the team an April 15 deadline on April 2, 2019, to get a new contract completed, a move that caught some as needlessly contentious given that the Seahawks had every desire to get a contract with Wilson done that year anyway.

— Carroll’s decision midway through the 2020 season, after Wilson had passed as never before the first two months, to revert to a more conservative offensive philosophy following three losses in four games in which Wilson had 10 turnovers, which Wilson’s camp viewed as Carroll putting the blame on Wilson.

— And most obvious, Wilson’s public airing last February of his frustration over being hit as often as he has and his wish to have more say in team personnel matters, Wilson stating what some in his camp had whispered for years, that they felt the team wasn’t doing all it could to max out his prime years.

In the wake of Wilson’s comments and subsequent trade rumors, Carroll said last spring he’d had a “heart-to-heart” with Wilson and portrayed their relationship as being “stronger than ever” heading into the 2021 season.

But just two games in, signs emerged that truce was temporary at best.

Following a 33-30 overtime defeat in which the Seahawks blew a 15-point halftime lead, Carroll said he wished Wilson had been more conservative with his passes on Seattle’s only OT possession instead of twice attempting deeper throws that fell incomplete and then taking a sack, giving the ball quickly back to the Titans.

“I wish Russ could have helped us there and just made completions for us,” Carroll said on his radio show the next day.

The comment immediately caught the eye of Wilson’s camp, and Wilson was ready with a response when asked about it during his weekly news conference a few days later.

“I think what I agree with is, find a way to win the game, whatever that is,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to change my mindset. I know how to win a lot of those games. We’ve done it before. And you’re not going to win every single one of them. But you believe you can. I think that’s the key to our football team, always believing that you can.”

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The Seahawks were blown out the following week at Minnesota, Wilson hurt two weeks later against the Rams, and a season that Seattle hoped would end in the Super Bowl — and mend any lingering wounds with Wilson — instead devolved into the worst of the Wilson era.

But while the first three years with Wilson were an unexpectedly magical ride to two Super Bowls and one Lombardi Trophy, in some ways things never really felt the same after the interception that cost the Seahawks a chance at NFL immortality against New England.

Negotiations on a new contract the following offseason seemed surprisingly contentious and drawn out, with Wilson at one point floating the idea of still hoping to play baseball after his annual appearance at spring training with the Texas Rangers (appearances he continued to make through the years).

The move was viewed by some as an attempt by Wilson to gain leverage in his negotiations with the Seahawks at a time when there was little question the team would do whatever it took to keep him anyway — he ultimately signed a deal worth $21.9 million a year, making him the second-highest paid player in NFL history just behind the $22 million of Aaron Rodgers.

As the years progressed, some around the team grew tired of the constant rumors swirling around Wilson’s future and rumblings of his discontent with the team, and that every game seemed to increasingly be viewed as a referendum on how the team was using him.

And if it also seemed at times as if Wilson was having a midlife-football crisis, he’d been down a similar road before.

Wilson, recall, was essentially asked to leave North Carolina State after his fourth year by coach Tom O’Brien in 2010, eventually transferring to Wisconsin.

O’Brien has been widely pilloried for the move, generally condensed as simply choosing two years of Mike Glennon for one year of Wilson (O’Brien had worries that the highly-recruited Glennon would transfer if Wilson stayed).

But as a six-part podcast by 99.9 The Fan in Raleigh, North Carolina, last year detailed, the issue was far more nuanced and the parting a result of a relationship between Wilson and O’Brien that frayed over several years due not only to Wilson’s desire to play baseball but also long baseball-related absences from the team and subsequent communication issues between the two, and O’Brien questioning Wilson’s commitment to the football team.

“He just never saw it the way I did,” O’Brien was quoted by WRAL.

As the years progressed, Carroll likely increasingly had the same thought, even if early in Wilson’s Seattle career the prevailing viewpoint was that Carroll and the organization did everything to protect him. It’s thought one reason Seattle didn’t sign Colin Kaepernick in 2017 was out of concerns whether Kaepernick might prove a threat to Wilson’s standing in the locker room, with Wilson at the time coming off his worst season.

The move to Wisconsin, though, worked out perfectly for Wilson. Regarded as a middling NFL prospect at best at the time, Wilson set a college football record in passing efficiency in his one year with the Badgers in leading them to the Rose Bowl and ending up a third-round choice of the Seahawks the following spring.

In other words, he has experienced the grass indeed proving greener on the other side.

And as the years went on in Seattle, he seemed to want to try to experience that again.

“He wanted out,” one source said after the trade.

Some might question, of course, if the organization couldn’t, or shouldn’t, have chosen Wilson instead of Carroll and general manager John Schneider.

But that bridge might have been crossed when Carroll and Schneider each got new contracts a year ago — Carroll through the 2025 season and Schneider through the 2027 draft — and with the knowledge that no matter who was in charge, another likely-to-be-contentious contract negotiation with Wilson loomed a year from now.

So Wilson gets the fresh start he saw work out well for him once before.

Carroll and Schneider get a fresh start they’d become increasingly resigned to understand the last year or two was almost certainly in the offing.

Now, like a football version of Kobe and Shaq, each will try to prove they can win it all without the other, knowing their NFL legacies — a word Wilson increasingly used the past few years — are on the line like never before.
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Michael K.
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by Michael K. » Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:46 pm

“I wish Russ could have helped us there and just made completions for us,” Carroll said on his radio show the next day.

The comment immediately caught the eye of Wilson’s camp, and Wilson was ready with a response when asked about it during his weekly news conference a few days later.

“I think what I agree with is, find a way to win the game, whatever that is,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to change my mindset. I know how to win a lot of those games. We’ve done it before. And you’re not going to win every single one of them. But you believe you can. I think that’s the key to our football team, always believing that you can.”
I NEVER understood that. The first and second down passes were not only ill advised and low percentage, he blatantly made no attempt to simply get a first down and move the chains, a HUGE issue when punting from your own end surely means the Titans kick a game winning FG. And then to come out and stubbornly refuse to accept the blame?

I didn't know that about his exit at NC State, but it makes sense. The more I read and look into things about Russell the more phony he seems, to me. I really do think it is going to be ugly in Denver. They are going to lose more division games than they win, everyone loves their "weapons", but they sent one to us and of the other three? Non of them are as good as the two he is leaving behind. Then? The ugly matter of paying him Mahomes money. It will look even dumber in that division. He will demand money and demand a winner, even though they have no draft picks and no salary cap space.

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D-train
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by D-train » Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 pm

Ciara guest hosted Ellen last week and he was the first guest. Dude is so fucking cringy.
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auroraave
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by auroraave » Thu Mar 10, 2022 3:23 pm

Michael K. wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:46 pm
“I wish Russ could have helped us there and just made completions for us,” Carroll said on his radio show the next day.

The comment immediately caught the eye of Wilson’s camp, and Wilson was ready with a response when asked about it during his weekly news conference a few days later.

“I think what I agree with is, find a way to win the game, whatever that is,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to change my mindset. I know how to win a lot of those games. We’ve done it before. And you’re not going to win every single one of them. But you believe you can. I think that’s the key to our football team, always believing that you can.”
I NEVER understood that. The first and second down passes were not only ill advised and low percentage, he blatantly made no attempt to simply get a first down and move the chains, a HUGE issue when punting from your own end surely means the Titans kick a game winning FG. And then to come out and stubbornly refuse to accept the blame?

I didn't know that about his exit at NC State, but it makes sense. The more I read and look into things about Russell the more phony he seems, to me. I really do think it is going to be ugly in Denver. They are going to lose more division games than they win, everyone loves their "weapons", but they sent one to us and of the other three? Non of them are as good as the two he is leaving behind. Then? The ugly matter of paying him Mahomes money. It will look even dumber in that division. He will demand money and demand a winner, even though they have no draft picks and no salary cap space.
What I've never understood is the narrative that "it's the play calling and the offensive strategy." Doesn't Wilson have the option to change the play? Doesn't he have ANY input into into the game plan or plays available? He is LITERALLY the ONE guy that is tasked with reading the defense and making the proper adjustment or audibles at the LOS. If the matchup is not favorable HE IS THE ONE GUY ON THE ENTIRE TEAM THAT HAS THE ABILITY TO CHANGE IT, just like every single veteran quarterback in the history of the NFL not named Rick Mirer. Again, I like Russ, but how does he escape blame for failed play calling, when he is the dude that can change that? I'm stupid, someone please explain this.

Never understood how he bears no responsibility for 'year of bad play calling'. It's never added up to me. He checked into a deep pass vs GB to win the NFCCG, but never checked into a different play ever again? There's plenty of blame to go around, just not to him, right?

On that Greg Olson video, he mentions talking to the coordinators about 'doing other things' and they pushed back - well, what if they were pushing back because they knew RW couldn't execute those things well? Why does no one ask that? Also, this bullshit narrative that PC wants to run the ball more than anyone else - is total nonsense. Every team in the league runs the ball just as much, if not more. More nonsensical narratives that do not add up when you actually look into the numbers.

Also - Seattle goes to Indy with Shane's new offense - storms the gates - then promptly never does it again. Hello, confusion.

Captain 97
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by Captain 97 » Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:40 pm

HawkandMariner88 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:34 am
Cowherd said it today on his show. Pete has too much power. Now lets ask ourselves

-Did Belichick w/Brady

-Does Reid w/Mahomes

-Does Tomlin

-Does McVay


This is the problem with someone having total control. What will it take for Pete to finally say adios Seattle?
Dude has more playoff wins than all 7 of the of the Hawks previous coaches had combined in 35 years and people think he has too much control and needs to get out of town. :roll:

Fans are stupid.

HawkandMariner88
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Joined: Sat May 04, 2019 10:33 pm

Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by HawkandMariner88 » Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:06 pm

Captain 97 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:40 pm
HawkandMariner88 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:34 am
Cowherd said it today on his show. Pete has too much power. Now lets ask ourselves

-Did Belichick w/Brady

-Does Reid w/Mahomes

-Does Tomlin

-Does McVay


This is the problem with someone having total control. What will it take for Pete to finally say adios Seattle?
Dude has more playoff wins than all 7 of the of the Hawks previous coaches had combined in 35 years and people think he has too much control and needs to get out of town. :roll:

Fans are stupid.
What have you done for me lately? Answer that

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douche
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by douche » Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:55 pm

Captain 97 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:40 pm
HawkandMariner88 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:34 am
Cowherd said it today on his show. Pete has too much power. Now lets ask ourselves

-Did Belichick w/Brady

-Does Reid w/Mahomes

-Does Tomlin

-Does McVay


This is the problem with someone having total control. What will it take for Pete to finally say adios Seattle?
Dude has more playoff wins than all 7 of the of the Hawks previous coaches had combined in 35 years and people think he has too much control and needs to get out of town. :roll:

Fans are stupid.
But the, 'What have you done for me lately?' question is a valid one.

2015 - lost to CAR in divisional round
2016 - lost to ATL in divisional round
2017 - oops
2018 - lost to DAL in wildcard round
2019 - lost to GB in divisional round
2020 - lost to LAR in divisional round

Michael K.
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by Michael K. » Thu Mar 10, 2022 7:47 pm

Michael K. wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:46 pm
“I wish Russ could have helped us there and just made completions for us,” Carroll said on his radio show the next day.

The comment immediately caught the eye of Wilson’s camp, and Wilson was ready with a response when asked about it during his weekly news conference a few days later.

“I think what I agree with is, find a way to win the game, whatever that is,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to change my mindset. I know how to win a lot of those games. We’ve done it before. And you’re not going to win every single one of them. But you believe you can. I think that’s the key to our football team, always believing that you can.”
I NEVER understood that. The first and second down passes were not only ill advised and low percentage, he blatantly made no attempt to simply get a first down and move the chains, a HUGE issue when punting from your own end surely means the Titans kick a game winning FG. And then to come out and stubbornly refuse to accept the blame?

I didn't know that about his exit at NC State, but it makes sense. The more I read and look into things about Russell the more phony he seems, to me. I really do think it is going to be ugly in Denver. They are going to lose more division games than they win, everyone loves their "weapons", but they sent one to us and of the other three? Non of them are as good as the two he is leaving behind. Then? The ugly matter of paying him Mahomes money. It will look even dumber in that division. He will demand money and demand a winner, even though they have no draft picks and no salary cap space.
Yeah, I get that. I have a buddy that is a very knowledgeable football coach that thinks Russ struggles to read defenses still, and is cautious to not always blame the coaches and play callers for why the huddle tales so long. Russ is also in charge of the huddle.

Non of us really know, but the majority of the grumbling are around Pete getting in the way, and sometimes where there is smoke there is fire.

Captain 97
Posts: 2732
Joined: Mon May 06, 2019 9:23 pm

Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by Captain 97 » Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:01 pm

HawkandMariner88 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 6:06 pm
Captain 97 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:40 pm
HawkandMariner88 wrote:
Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:34 am
Cowherd said it today on his show. Pete has too much power. Now lets ask ourselves

-Did Belichick w/Brady

-Does Reid w/Mahomes

-Does Tomlin

-Does McVay


This is the problem with someone having total control. What will it take for Pete to finally say adios Seattle?
Dude has more playoff wins than all 7 of the of the Hawks previous coaches had combined in 35 years and people think he has too much control and needs to get out of town. :roll:

Fans are stupid.
What have you done for me lately? Answer that
He won the hardest division in football last season and finished 1st or 2nd in the divisions 9 consecutive years prior to this season. He would have been in the playoffs again this year without Wilson's Injury. Am I disappointed they haven't got another title yes but do I think another coach would have done any better? No! If your standard is multiple super bowl wins you'd be chasing every coach out of town unless his name was Bill Belechik. We have a baseball team that hasn't been in the playoffs in 21 years and we want to fire the football coach that has been in the playoffs 75% of his seasons. It's flat out ridiculous. Why would you want to take a crap shoot and jump back on the coaching carousel sooner than you have to when you know the odds are you aren't going to get a coach as successful as Pete. Reminds me of when George Karl got chased out of town. Or even more recently, Lorenzo Romar. The grass is not always greener on the other side.

Michael K.
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Re: Wilson heading to the Broncos

Post by Michael K. » Thu Mar 10, 2022 10:14 pm

Romar is a terrible example. He left and some guy took his left overs and had several successful season. Romar is now a five win coach at Pepperdine. No talent. He could recruit, but do nothing with it.

I get what you are saying Captain, but this team SHOULD have one or two more rings. A BIG part of why they don't is some of the dysfunction that can be laid directly at the feet of Pete.

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