The more we learn about the split between the Seattle Seahawks and former franchise quarterback Russell Wilson, the uglier it gets. After the trade that sent him to the Denver Broncos, Wilson and the front office shared conflicting stories about the nature of their divorce. At least publicly Wilson had maintained that he wanted to stay in Seattle all along, while head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider claim he didn’t want to sign another contract with their organization.
Now we’re learning of more friction behind the scenes between Wilson and one of his former coaches. According to Corbin Smith at Sports Illustrated, Wilson “pushed hard” for the Seahawks to move on from former offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer after the 2020 season.
“In fact, per a team source, while they didn’t hold ill will towards one another and maintained respect for each other, the perennial Pro Bowl quarterback and his representatives “pushed hard” for a coordinator change behind the scenes after a disappointing finish to the 2020 season. ‘Don’t let his comments mask his real thoughts,” the source remarked. “He had grown tired of Schotty from a play calling perspective and wanted something fresh. As much as he benefited from his coaching, he didn’t think the two could co-exist anymore in a football marriage.’”
This seems a bit strange considering that Wilson played the best football of his career while Schottenheimer was making the calls from 2018-2020. While the passing offense struggled in the second half of the 2020 season, Wilson had been performing at an MVP level up until around Week 9. The team did a poor job of adjusting to more two-high safety looks after that, but dismissing Schottenheimer always seemed like an extreme move and frankly the wrong one considering his success the previous two and a half years.
Wilson is unquestionably by far the best quarterback in franchise history, but he comes off as duplicitous. We’re willing to bet we’ll be hearing more than a few negative stories about his time with the team in the years to come.