I wonder if the Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson has ever read Dale Carnegie’s book, ‘How to win friends and influence people’?
The Washington Post reported, ‘In a media session with reporters, ostensibly to celebrate his selection as the winner of this year’s NFL Man of the Year award, Wilson, 32, declared that he was “frustrated with getting hit too much.”
“I think that the reality is that I’ve definitely been hit,” he added. “I’ve been sacked almost 400 times, so we’ve got to get better. I’ve got to find ways to get better, too.”
Whilst taking ownership of his own involvement to a certain extent, I struggle to see how his comments help his teammates and staff/coaches tasked with improving the team & his current situation. What it most certainly does achieve, is ensuring a frosty reception from his current offensive line when he returns to training camp in preparation for the 2021 season.
According to Spotrac (player contract resource), ‘Russell Wilson signed a 4 year, $140M new money extension with the Seattle Seahawks on April 15, 2019 that included a $65M signing bonus, $107M of total guarantees, and an average annual salary of $35M. At the time of signing this deal was the highest average paid contract, most total guarantees, and biggest signing bonus in NFL history.’
The Seahawks currently sit 24th of 32 teams in terms of offensive line spending with 12 players accounting for $26,535,372 (14.43% of the 2021 salary cap) an average of $2,211,281 . When you compare these figures with Wilson’s 2021 earnings of $32,000,000 (17.4% of the 2021 salary cap), I can’t help but wonder if Wilson could have helped himself by taking a little less money to enable squad strengthening in a number of different areas, including the offensive line.
Various reports are surfacing of Wilson having watched Tampa Bay surround Tom Brady with free agent signings and draft recruits en-route to a successful Super Bowl campaign in 2020/21, and Wilson wants some of that action for himself. However, Wilson’s current salary is not condusive to such a plan.
Brady’s salary for 2021 currently sits at $9,075,000 (4.98% of Tampa’s cap), and a team friendly deal like this allows Tampa Bay GM, Jason Licht, to allocate more funds elsewhere and provide Brady with the weapons he requires.
Brady famously took below market value deals whilst playing for the New England Patriots because he wanted to win Superbowls, and it allowed Bill Belichick to spend money in other areas of the team to ensure the Patriots were always competitive. The policy resulted in six Lombardi trophy’s between 2001 & 2019, not a bad return.
Whispers of a potential trade for Wilson refuse to subside, and Wilson didn’t dispel these rumours when quizzed on the ‘Dan Patrick Show’. “I’m not sure if I’m available or not. That’s a Seahawks question,” said Wilson. His agent, Mark Rodgers, has even gone as far as to suggest preferred options if a trade opportunity does materialise; The Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints & the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Dallas Cowboys seem an unlikely possibility after they signed Dak Prescott to a four year, $160 million contract last month. The Bears have already made a run at Wilson, but no deal materialised. However, ESPN’s Adam Schefter continued to report that Wilson staying in Seattle isn’t a done deal. He even reported the Bears “have not abandoned hope” and it could all hinge on a draft night trade.
Chris Mortensen, ESPN also said, “I’ve been told… Russell Wilson being traded from Seattle is not dead yet, and Chicago and the Seahawks had the most heated talks and then it kinda fell apart and cooled off. We are told it can heat up again.”
The Saints QB situation is far from concrete with the recent retirement of Drew Brees. Saints Head Coach, Sean Payton, now has a decision to make between Jameis Winston & Taysom Hill.
According to Luke Johnson from NOLA.com, Payton had this to say about the quarterback situation, “We have a really good room,” Payton said. “I’m excited about Jameis Winston, I’m excited about Taysom Hill. Those are guys that we’ve had a chance, obviously, to see for a period of time … maybe not as much time with Jameis.”
“I think that we’ll handle it accordingly. That position is important. It’s vital. That’s why we’ve paid attention to an offseason signing like Jameis, or paid attention to keeping Taysom here.”
If the Saints could find a way of liberating Russell Wilson from Seattle, I don’t think there’s any doubt he would be Payton’s first choice ahead of Winston & Hill.
The Las Vegas Raiders appear happy with current QB Derek Carr, his brother & former NFL QB David Carr said on the NFL Network, “Teams have called and offered, but all have been told no.” However, Coach Gruden tends to be a little fickle when it comes to his QB, so I don’t think you can ever rule them out completely.
Another major consideration in any potential trade is the dead money situation Seattle would incur, $39 million this year or $26 million next year. There are some ways of lightening the blow if a trade partner would swallow some of the dead money, but they’d have to be willing to cover the dead money & his salary. That’s quite an ask.
If Wilson does end up leaving Seattle for pastures new, and he is serious about wanting to win another Super Bowl, it will be very interesting to see if he restructures his contract in an effort to surround himself with more talent. Tom Brady has shown him the road to sustained success, but is Wilson prepared to sacrifice dollars for trophies?