Earlier in the offseason, the NFL was shocked when a disgruntled Russell Wilson was rumored to want out of Seattle.
The 32-year-old stayed put, and now, according to teammate Bobby Wagner, the drama is “all water under the bridge.”
“I think, honestly, it’s part of how the league works. If you lose and don’t go to the big game, they always try to figure out what went wrong, what happened,” Wagner told USA TODAY Sports Friday. “And so I think after Russell made a couple of those comments, I think it was an opportunity for a lot of people to run with it.
The trade rumors started flying around the league after Wilson told reporters “I’m frustrated with getting hit too much.” The quarterback was sacked 48 times which was the fifth most in the league.
Wilson was also angered by Seattle’s playoff performance in last year’s postseason. They fell to the Rams 30-20 in the NFC Wild Card. As a result, Wilson wanted more control over the team’s personnel decisions.
Even though no formal trade request was sent by the quarterback, that did not stop teams from calling the Seahawks to see what it would take to land the star. The Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders were two of the teams that were linked to Wilson.
However, despite the turmoil, Wilson stayed with Seattle. The Seahawks attempted to fix their offensive line this offseason by re-signing center Ethan Pocic and Cedric Ogbuehi. They also acquired guard Gabe Jackson through trade and drafted Stone Forsythe in the sixth round of the draft.
Now, the team will move together in solidarity as they coast through training camps and prepare for the 2021 season opener against the Raiders– the team Wilson could have been on if he was in fact traded.
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